Avatar: Second Generation Book 1: Water
by zukofan2005
Summary: what happens when there's a new war? It's up to the second generation of Team Avatar to train the new Avatar and stop the new army before it's too late! set 21 years after Sozin's Comet. mainly OCs but the original characters will be in it. no Korra!
1. Introductions

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

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Kya - Kya is the first born child of Sokka and Suki. She's the older sister of Toshiro and one of Haruki's cousin, the son of Aang and Katara. She was named after her late grandmother Kya. Like her family, Kya isn't a bender and like her family she's a skilled warrior. She fights both Kyoshi and Water Tribe style. Kya has tan skin with blue eyes, and long dark brown hair that goes down her back. She keeps it the way her grandmother Kya did her hair. (The Swamp episode). She can be a bit of a joker like her dad and can be serious. She can act motherly towards her younger cousins, friends, and the younger children of the tribe.

Haruki - Haruki is the only son of Katara and Suki. He's Toshiro and Kya's only cousin. He's an airbender like his dad but he uses Water Tribe weapons. Haruki looks exactly like his father except he has hair (which is black), no tattoos, he has his mother's eyes, and his skin is lightly tanned. He wears a headband so his hair is out of his eyes when he's fighting. Although he's his father in looks, he doesn't exactly have his spirit. While Aang was cheerful, optimistic, and fun loving, Haruki hardly even smiles. He takes the war seriously and trains everyday, like his Uncle Sokka did when he was a teenager.

Toshiro - Toshiro is the second born child of Sokka and Suki. His older sister is Kya and he's Haruki's cousin. Like his family, Toshiro's not a bender and like his family he's a skilled warrior. He's mostly skilled in fighting Water Tribe style and only a little good at fighting Kyoshi style. Toshiro has tan skin with light blue eyes. Like Haruki he looks like his father but has his mother's eyes. He keeps his hair in a warrior's wolf tail like his father did. Not only does Toshiro look like his dad, but he acts like his father too. He's a joker, a meat lover, a warrior, an idea guy, and can be a genius. He takes the war seriously like his sister but not as serious as Haruki.

Jin - Jin is the first born daughter of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Mai. She had three younger siblings: two sisters named Morana and Ursa, and a brother Izuru, now passed. She's a skilled firebender and is skilled in dual swordsmanship and Shuriken-jutsu. Jin is fair skinned, has long black dark hair that goes down her back with a little ponytail to keep her bangs out of her gold eyes. She's a little similar to her mother; she's bored almost all the time but this is due to the fact that most of her friends live in different nations and because she had to behave all the time. She feels trapped because she, like her mother, couldn't show her emotions that much and had to behave almost her whole life. She knows how to have fun though, and can put a smile on her face, though rarely. She's very adventurous and loves to explore any place she can which is very limited since her father wouldn't allow her to leave the palace grounds except for school or if she had a bodyguard. She wasn't even allowed outside unless someone was with her. She loves her family dearly and will protect them at any costs.

Aura - Aura is the first born daughter of Ty Lee. She's the oldest of four sisters. Her three sisters are named Jun, Zuri, and Xiu. Aura is a skilled acrobat and is an expert in chi blocking. She looks exactly like her mother, but she keeps her hair similar to Jin's only instead of a ponytail she keeps it in a braid and her hair is curly instead of straight. Aura is just like Ty Lee, in looks and spirit. She is energetic and cheerful but can be serious when she needs to be. Her father died when she was a child.

Xiu - Xiu is the last born daughter of Ty Lee. She is the youngest of four sisters (for names of sisters look up fourth sentence in Aura's profile). Though Xiu is a skilled acrobat like her mom and sisters, she chooses to work with animals instead. Her eyes are the same color (gold) and shape as her father's. She looks similar to both her father and her mother. Her brown medium lengthed brown hair is all up in a ponytail except a little braid that hangs over her left shoulder. Some people would think that Xiu was related to Mai and Zuko. She's moody and serious almost all the time and prefers the darkness compared to being out in the sun. This is mostly due to her low self-esteem about her looks. She wants to be an individual like her mother was. She's sad that she's never known her father since he died the day she was born.

Rikiya - Rikiya is Toph's only child. He's a master earthbender and metalbender. He can even see with his feet and can detect when someone is lying. His skin is slightly tan from being outside earthbending everyday. He has shaggy black hair with brown eyes. Rikiya's slightly the opposite of his mother. He's not as loud or as obnoxious as Toph but he can be carefree, tough, and can call people names. He's overprotective of his mother and his friends and can be very physical towards people who insult him or the people he cares about.

Sanosuke - Sanosuke is the only son of Hahn and Melia. He's an orphan and lives with his waterbending teached Khalil. He is a master waterbender. Sanosuke has tan skin with shoulder lengthed brown hair and blue eyes. His hair is mostly down except for a little ponytail on the back of his head. Sanosuke's a bit of a show off and can sometimes be arrogant but he has a good heart and will fight for his family and friends no matter what.

Shou - Shou is Teo's second born child. His older sister's name is Jeni. He's an earthbender like his mother was. Shou has fair skin, grey eyes, and short brown hair which he keeps up in a top knot and has bangs covering the right side of his face. He looks a lot like his mother but he has his father's eyes. He's like his dad but very rebellious. He protects his dad and grandfather when he needs to. He loves to go gliding like his father did and loves to invent like his grandfather. He's also a bit of a show off when it comes to gliding and earthbending.

Yue - Yue is Haru's only daughter. She's a waterbender like her late mother. Her mother hailed from the Northern Water Tribe. Because she doesn't have a teacher she's not a master waterbender but she teaches herself and studies from the scrolls her mother owned. Yue has tan skin, green eyes, and her hairstyle is similar to Haru's except she keeps the rest of her hair is in a ponytail. She loves to waterbend and practices every day but she has to keep it secret. She's as friendly as her father and very adventurous


	2. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

I first made this story on fanpop and I wanted to share it on this site. sorry the first chapter is pretty short

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA but I do own the OC

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"Aang, look!" yelled Katara, "Haruki's taking his first steps!"  
Aang ran into the tent and watched his six month old son take a few steps over to Katara who was kneeling on the ground with her arms outstretched. Haruki stumbled before he made it to Katara and fell backwards onto his rear.  
"Don't worry, Haruki," said Aang as he knelt down next to Katara, "You'll be able to walk just fine with enough practice."  
Haruki suddenly sneezed and he slid a couple feet backwards.  
"Well, at least we know you're not the last airbender anymore." said Katara as she pulled out a cloth and wiped Haruki's nose. She picked up the toddler and hugged him. Aang walked over to them and put one arm around Katara's shoulder and one arm around Haruki in a hug.

Kya whooped as she rode down the snow bank on the back of a penguin. Sokka watched her with a smile on his face, remembering the fun he and his friends had when they were kids. The penguin slid down one more bank before finally stopping. Kya jumped off her mount and ran to her father, smiling and whooping.  
"That was so fun!" said the three-year-old. "Can I go again?"  
"Actually, we should be going back." said Sokka, looking at the sky, "It's almost time for dinner."  
"Aw," groaned Kya, "Do we have to?"  
Sokka smiled at Kya, "Yes, we have to. We'll come back tomorrow."  
Kya groaned as Sokka picked her up and put her on his shoulders. Sokka carried his daughter to the village where Suki, holding newborn Toshiro, waited for them outside the tent.

Toph earthbended the spaceearth into different shapes to entertain the baby boy sitting in front of her. Rikiya clapped his hands and laughed. Akari, Toph's servant, entered the room.  
"Ms. Bei Fong, I believe it's time for Rikiya to get to bed."  
"Akari, you can go home now," said Toph as she picked up Rikiya and carried him to his bed, "I think I'll turn in for the night too."  
Akari bowed to Toph and left the house.

Fire Lady Mai held her newborn baby girl in her arms. Right now her daughter was sleeping.  
"So have you thought of any names, Zuko?" Mai asked Fire Lord Zuko.  
Zuko stood next to Mai and gently rubbed his fingers against the newborn's dark hair.  
"I was thinking that maybe we could name her Jin." said Zuko  
"That sounds like a good name." said Mai.  
Jin's eyes opened slowly and she looked at her parents. A smile appeared on the newborn's face for a second.

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so what do you guys think? any likes? dislikes? maybe some tips on how it can be better?


	3. Chapter 2: Visitors

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs and again, sorry about the short chapter

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Kya played with her pet polar bear dog while Sokka, Suki, Katara, and Aang sat in front Aang and Katara's tent watched. She and her pet rolled around in the snow laughing and growling playfully until her pet pinned her to the ground and licked her face. She laughed and pushed the polar bear dog off of her.  
"Ah, gross. Get off Avalanche!" Kya laughed as she gave Avalanche a big bear hug.  
"Good idea letting Kya keep that polar bear dog as a pet, Sokka" said Katara.  
"Well I figured that since there aren't any other kids here her age she could use a pet." said Sokka.  
"Hopefully that will change when Haruki and Toshiro get older." said Katara, holding a sleeping Haruki.  
"Look at that!" said Aang suddenly, pointing ahead.  
Suki, Sokka, and Katara looked up and saw a ship approaching the village.  
"Is that a Fire Nation ship?" asked Katara, standing up and keeping Haruki close to her chest.  
"Hey it is!" said Sokka, taking a couple steps forward. "That means..."  
"Uncle Zuko's here!" squeeled Kya.

After the ship reached the entrance to the Southern Water Tribe village, Zuko and Mai walked down the ship's ramp and into the village. They both wore their winter coats. Mai held a bundle in her arms. Kya ran over and hugged Zuko's legs.  
"Hi Uncle Zuko! Hi Aunt Mai!" she squeeled happily. Avalanche sniffed around the Fire Lord and the Fire Lady and wagged his tail.  
"Hello, Kya." said Zuko, patting the little girl on the head. "Are your parents here?"  
"Yes! I'll take you to them!" Kya took Zuko's hand and led him and mai over to Sokka, Suki, Aang, and Katara. "Here they are!"  
"Zuko! How ya doing, buddy?" asked Sokka, shaking Zuko's hand.  
"We actually have some exciting news." said Zuko, putting his arm around Mai. Mai arranged the bundle in her arms and showed the group the new baby.  
"This is Jin." said Mai, "The new member of the royal family."  
"Oh, congratulations!" said Katara.  
"So, how does it feel to be parents?" asked Aang.  
"It's a pretty big change." said Zuko, "We're starting to get used to it though.  
"This is Toshiro." said Suki, showing the new parents her newborn.  
"Oh, he has your eyes." said Mai, taking a closer look at the newborn  
"That reminds me," said Zuko, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a doll. "This is for you, Kya." he handed it to the little girl. "I thought it looked like you."  
And it did. The doll wore a blue dress, had blue eyes, and brown hair, just like Kya.  
"Oh thank you, thank you!" Kya hugged the doll close to her. "Aunt Mai, Daddy taught me how to go penguin sledding! Can I show you?"  
"Kya, I'm sure Mai wants to rest from her journey here..." said Suki  
"No, I'd be happy to watch you." said Mai. She let Kya take her hand and lead her away from the other adults. Avalanche ran after them, tail wagging.  
"Mai and I didn't just come here to tell you good news." Zuko told them in an undertone. "I think we may have another war on our hands."

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don't hesitate to give me tips on how to make it better, no flames please


	4. Chapter 3: A New Army

"How can there be another war?" asked Sokka  
"After the hundred year war ended, there were a lot of people in the Fire Nation that weren't happy about how it ended." explained Zuko  
"What do you mean they weren't happy?" asked Sokka, "Shouldn't they be glad that this war is over?"  
"No, they're glad the war's over," said Zuko, darkly, "Some of the people in the Fire Nation just aren't happy that the Fire Nation pretty much lost when it was so close to winning. Even some of the earthbenders feel this way."  
"What earthbenders?" asked Sokka, "Every town in the Earth Kingdom we've been in were totally against this war!"  
"Are you sure about that, Sokka?" asked Zuko, as if he was giving Sokka a hint  
"You don't mean..."  
"Afraid so. The Dai Li."  
"Maybe there's something I can do," said Aang, "It's my duty as Avatar to make sure there aren't any wars."  
"You'll need a lot of help, Aang," said Zuko, "This isn't a small rebel group. It's a large army. Almost as large as the Fire Nation population. They've been planning, arming themselves with weapons, and supplying themselves for the past seven years."  
"Have they taken over any towns yet?" asked Suki, thinking about Kyoshi Island  
"Not that I'm aware of," Zuko said, reassurinly to Suki as if he knew what she was thinking, "But trust me, they will strike some time. It's just lucky Sozin's Comet isn't coming any time soon."  
"So what do we do?" asked Aang.  
"I have some spies in the army that will send me news of what is happening." said Zuko, "For now, I'm sending this warning to every town I can get to. After here, I'm going back to the Earth Kingdom to warn the towns on the way to the North Pole. And don't worry, Suki," he added, giving Suki a smile, "I'll warn Kyoshi Island."  
Suki nodded as a thanks to Zuko.  
"Do you think you should stay here for the night?" asked Katara, looking at the sky. "It's going to get dark soon."  
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to, but I don't think I have much of a choice."

Zuko woke up in the middle of the night to Jin crying. He felt Mai roll over to get out of bed then put his hand on her shoulder.  
"You go back to sleep," he whispered, "I'll take care of her."  
"Thanks." Mai whispered back and fell asleep. Zuko got out of bed and walked over to Jin's bed to pick her up. He bounced her while making soothing noises until she stopped crying. He was putting her back in her bed when he heard something outside. He put on his coat and ran to the deck of the ship. There he saw a ship coming towards the entrance of the village. he ran back into his and Mai's room to grab his spyglass. When he came into the room Mai sat up in bed, looking alert.  
"Stay in here with the baby." he said to Mai, grabbing his glass out of the drawer of his bedside table. He ran back outside onto the deck. The approaching ship was almost at the bow of the ship. He looked through the glass and looked at the ship's flag.  
The Southern Raiders.  
"No." Zuko whispered


	5. Chapter 4: The Attack

disclaimer - i don't own atla, but I do own the oc

sorry that this chapter will be so short, but I promise you the next one will be longer!

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"We're under attack!" Hakoda yelled to the village.

The men readied themselves for the fight. Aang grabbed his staff and ran out of the tent, Katara at his heels, holding Haruki. Aang turned around and stopped Katara.

"You and Haruki have to get out of here." he told her, "Get the old, the sick, and the young out of here on Appa."

"Aang, I won't leave you!" said Katara.

"I can't fight not knowing if you're safe," said Aang, hugging his wife and son, "Katara, please."

Katara looked at his eyes, kissed him, then ran off, collecting the children and old in the village. After she got all the children on Appa, she realized one of them was missing...

"Kya!" she yelled, looking around, hoping to see the little girl running over. When this did not happen, Katara climbed onto Appa. She gave Haruki to one of the old women and turned to a teenaged boy near the front.

"Can I trust you to get everyone here to the safe place?" she asked the boy.

"You can count on me, Katara." said the boy, bowing to Katara.

"And if no one comes to collect you by sun down tomorrow..."

"We fly to Kyoshi Island."

Katara reached into her pocket and pulled out the scroll she had just grabbed. She gave it to the boy.

"Here is the map to Kyoshi Island. Though I pray you will not be needing it."

She turned back to the old woman holding Haruki.

"If Aang and I don't survive..." she started but the old woman cut her off

"I guarantee you he will be in a loving home." the old woman kindly said. "The same with Toshiro." she added, looking at a teenager holding Toshiro. Katara bowed to the old woman, kissed Haruki on the forehead, and jumped off of Appa.

"Yip yip!" said the boy and Appa jumped to the sky and flew away from the village. The fight had begun. Katara saw that the attackers were the Southern Raiders. Anger boiled up inside Katara as she remembered the last time they attacked the village. She suddenly remembered Kya and ran through the village, looking for her and calling for her. She ducked and waterbended when she needed to while she ran. When Katara ran into Sokka and Suki's tent, she saw Kya curled on the ground crying, Avalanche standing in front of her, protectively.

"Kya what are you doing here?" asked Katara, running to the little girl and picking her up. The attack outside could still be heard.

"I couldn't find Mommy or Daddy." Kya said, crying.

"Don't worry, Kya." said Katara, carrying her niece to the tent's entrance, "I'm getting you out of here. Just hold on to me tightly and close your eyes."

Kya did as she was told and Katara ran out of the tent and ran back into the fight. Avalanche ran after them, growling. As Katara ran, fire was shot at her but she was able to waterbend the fire out. She used her waterbending to quickly freeze the attacking raider and continued running. Before she made it out of the village, however, she saw that the Southern Raiders were leaving. Katara put Kya down and started leading her to the closest tent.

"Get inside and hide." she told the girl. "Don't come out until I tell you to."

Kya ran inside the tent with Avalanche. Katara ran towards the villagers.

"Why are they leaving?" Katara asked her father

"I don't know." said Hakoda, looking at the leaving raiders suspiciously. "And I don't like it. This reminds me of their last attack."

Katara understood what Hakoda meant and started running through the village, making sure everyone was okay.

"Sokka!" she said, running to her brother. "Why did they leave?"

Sokka avoided his sister's eyes. She understood.

"Did someone get hurt? Where's Suki?"

"She's fine." Sokka answered, vaguely.

"Is it Zuko? Mai? Pakku?" asked Katara, Sokka still refused to meet Katara's eyes, "Tell me the truth! What happened?"

Sokka looked into Katara's eyes; she saw that he had tears in his eyes.

"Where is he?" she asked him quietly.

"I don't think you want to see him." said Sokka, looking away from Katara again

"Where is he?" she yelled, tearfully. Sokka didn't flinch. He put his arm around her shoulders and steered her away from the villagers. Tears fell down Katara's face as they walked.

"It just happened," explained Sokka. "The Yu Yan Archers were with the Southern Raiders. He was fighting the raiders off. The archers were so quiet, so sneaky; we didn't even know they were here until it happened."

Sokka led Katara to a spot just a few yards away from the village. Two people stood there, looking down at a figure in the snow which was crimson with blood. As soon as Katara saw his body she fell to her knees and sobbed, holding the body close to her. She opened her waterskin and got some water out.

"It's too late, Katara." said Suki, crying softly. "He's gone."

Katara ignored her and tried using her bending water to heal the spot on his chest where his heart was... where the arrow hit him. The water glowed and Katara looked at his face, waiting for him to wake up. Nothing happened. She shook him slightly. Nothing. Katara hugged him, crying into his shoulder. Sokka held the crying Suki. Zuko knelt down next to Katara and hugged her. She kissed Aang on the lips and hugged him tightly, sobbing.

Meanwhile, at the Northern Water Tribe, a dark haired baby boy was born.


	6. Chapter 5: The Training and the Meeting

Jin performed a spinning kick to send fire at her opponent. Her opponent blocked the attack and started sending fireballs at her. She ducked and rolled on the ground to avoid the fireballs. She threw a fireball at his legs. He jumped and kicked fire at her while still in the air. Jin rolled again to avoid the attack and jumped to her feet. He shot a large fireball toward her which made her stagger backwards to avoid it. She fell on her behind. He created fire daggers and started to run over to her. When he stood over Jin she shielded herself.

"Enough." said a voice.

The daggers disappeared from her opponent's hands and he walked back to where he stood.

"Jin, stand up."

Jin got to her feet and turned to look at her father.

"Why didn't you try to block the attack?" asked Zuko, who was sitting in his throne, spectator her training.

"I'm sorry, Father." said Jin, "I-I guess I got scared."

"Jin," said Zuko, standing up and walking towards her, "You need to remember that whenever you get into a real fight, your opponent will not hesitate to hurt you. He won't show restraint because you're a child. He will hurt you when he gets the chance." he stood right in front of her and put he put his hands on her shoulders, "You can not give him that chance."

"I know," said Jin, lowering her head and closing her eyes, ashamed, "I'm sorry."

Zuko put his hand on his daughter's head and turned to Jin's training opponent.

"Again." he said.

Jin nodded once and turned to her opponent. When they got into their firebending stances, Mai entered the throne room, holding Jin's two-year-old sister Morana.

"Our guests are here, Zuko." said Mai, "They're excited to see you."

"I'll be right there." said Zuko

"Jin," said Mai, turning to her oldest daughter, "Haruki, Kya, and Toshiro are here."

"Really?" Jin yelled out excitedly.

Mai nodded, smiling. Jin started to run out of the room when Zuko grabbed her shoulder.

"Hold on," he said, "Your training isn't over yet."

"Zuko, she's been at this all morning." said Mai, "Let her go see her friends."

Zuko hesitated, then let go of Jin. "Fine."

Jin ran out of the throne room, giving her mother a grateful smile as she went. Mai smiled as she ran out. When she walked over to her husband, she saw that he was looking at her irritated.

"What?" she asked, frowning.

"Leave us alone." Zuko told Jin's opponent. The opponent bowed and walked out of the room. Zuko turned back to Mai, his hands in fists.

"Don't you understand how important it is for Jin to train right now?" he asked Mai, angrily, "Especially with this war going on?"

"Zuko, calm down." said Mai, putting her hand on his elbow but he jerked his arm away.

"I will not calm down," he said, "Don't you care about her? Don't you want her to be prepared?"

"Zuko, she's only eight." said Mai, "She's not going to be sent to battle at this age."

"I'm talking about what if the Chikara Army attacks the Fire Nation like they did the South Pole and part of the Earth Kingdom."

"Zuko, this palace is heavily guarded with firebenders, nothing's going to happen. You're acting like Azula."

"No I'm not! Azula went insane because she was worried about herself; I'm going insane because I'm worried about my family and my friends." The fire in the room grew intense as he said this. He calmed down and so did the flames. He put his hand on Mai's face.

"I just don't want you to end up like..." he couldn't finish

"This is about Aang, isn't it?" a tear slid down Mai's cheek.

Zuko sighed again and walked past his wife.

"I'm not going to fail to protect my family like I failed to protect Aang."

He walked out of the room. Mai watched him go, tears running down her face.

"Remember to be on your best behavior." Katara told the kids while they waited outside by the pond for Zuko, Mai, and Jin. Toshiro played with Momo.

"You know you can trust me, Mom." Haruki told his mother.

"Try to have some fun this time." Katara told her son, kneeling down on the grass so their eyes were level and putting her hands on his shoulders. "I don't want you to just watch your cousins have fun, I want you to have fun too."

"Mom, you and I both know there's no time for fun when there's a war going on." Haruki told his mother seriously

"Kya's almost of warrior age but she knows to have some fun." said Suki

"You're still a kid," said Sokka, "How about having fun like a kid while you still can? You know, play games, run around, anything."

Haruki looked away from his family, sulking.

"Fine."

"Hi everyone!" yelled Jin, running outside, a big smile on her face.

"Hi, Jin." said Sokka, accepting a hug from the young girl, "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Answered Jin, "Mom and Dad will be out here in a few minutes."

"I don't need a few minutes," said a voice, "I'm here."

"Hi, Zuko," Sokka and Zuko grasped arms.

"I'm sorry Toph couldn't make it," said Katara, hugging Zuko, "She's having troubles at home."

"Her parents still don't understand that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself." said Sokka, "They keep offering to take care of Rikiya for her."

"Well I'm glad the three of you could make it. The meeting will be set up in an hour. In the mean time I need to talk to you privately."

"Kids, why don't you go explore the palace for a bit?" suggested Katara

"Yeah, we get it," said Kya, taking Toshiro's hand and walking away, "You guys wanna be alone."

She and the other kids walked away from the adults and into the palace. Jin led them to her room. Haruki watched Toshiro and Jin play with Momo while Kya laid on Jin's bed, deep in thought.

"I wonder what this meeting is supposed to be about." said Kya

"It's about the war." said Jin, "My dad's been pretty paranoid about it."

"Too bad we can't go to the meeting." said Toshiro

"Or maybe we can." said Kya, sitting up, an idea popping in her head.

"No, we can't." said Jin, "We're underage."

"We can just sneak in." said Kya

"Bad idea." said Haruki

"Oh, Haruki." said Toshiro, annoyed, "Learn to have some fun for once. So how should we sneak in?" he added, looking at Kya.

"We'll go into the throne room where the meeting is before everybody goes in and hide behind something. This way we can hear what's going on."

"Sounds good to me." said Toshiro, smiling.

Haruki hesitated then shrugged, "Eh, why not? I just want to know whose winning."

"Jin?" asked Kya, looking towards the silent princess

"What if we get caught?" asked Jin, "I don't want him to get really mad at me."

"I promise you we won't get caught. Mom taught me about stealth and how to be quiet and sneaky and everything. We'll be fine as long as we stay well hidden and we don't make a sound. We can't even breathe loudly either!"

Haruki, Jin, Kya, and Toshiro hid behind separate pillars in the throne room. In the middle of the room was a table where the admirals, war ministers, and generals of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom sat. Zuko sat in his throne while Sokka, Katara, and Suki sat at the end of the table in front of Zuko. On the table was a map of the Earth Kingdom. A general from the Earth Kingdom was giving his report to Zuko.

"The Chikara Army still has control over some parts of the Earth Kingdom here," he pointed somewhere on the map, "Here," he pointed again at another location, "And here. They've started to try taking over Omashu. They may succeed since their army is growing and we're becoming more outnumbered."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest putting up more security in the Earth Kingdom where there are no benders. Ba Sing Se and Omashu are completely inhabited with earthbenders but they could use some more help. Perhaps have some waterbenders and firebenders help with the security."

"Katara," said Zuko, looking at her, "What do you think of that suggestion?"

"I agree with the general's suggestion," said Katara, "As long as some waterbenders stay in the North Pole to protect their tribe. If the Avatar was born in the North Pole he or she may need some protection."

"You don't believe that the Avatar was born in the South Pole?"

"There weren't any children in our tribe born the day Avatar Aang died and some of us searched all over and did not find any newborns."

"Forgive me but how do we know that there is a new Avatar?" asked a Fire nation admiral, "How do we know the cycle didn't end?"

"The Avatar wasn't in the Avatar State when he died," Zuko answered, glaring at the admiral that spoke, "If he died while in the Avatar State the cycle would be broken."

The admiral remained silent after Zuko said this.

"Katara, Sokka, you've been friends with the last Avatar longer, if the new Avatar is in the North Pole, what do you suggest we do?"

"I think maybe we should send a message to the Northern Water Tribe," said Sokka, "Ask them if the Avatar is in their city and tell them they need to protect him or her."

At that moment, a servant ran into the throne room. She ran to his throne and bowed deeply.

"Please forgive me, Fire Lord Zuko," she said, looking distressed, "But it's an emergency. A message came from the leader of the Chikara Army."

Sanosuke sat on the floor in his house, absentmindedly practicing his waterbending using a bowl of water. Khalil, a family friend and Sanosuke's teacher, supervised him as he did this.

"Very good, Sanosuke," said Khalil, "I'd say in a few years you'll become a master."

Sanosuke sighed and stopped bending.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Khalil.

"I haven't heard from my father in two weeks, Khalil." said Sanosuke, sadly, "Do you think he's all right?"

"You must remember, Sanosuke," Khalil sat down in front of Sanosuke, "Your father is fighting in the war. He may be dealing with something right now."

"I know," Sanosuke looked at his reflection in the bowl of water, "It's just that he promised he would send me a message at least once a week."

"Just be patient, I'm sure he is fine."

The eight-year-old boy smiled at Khalil and continued his bending.


	7. Chapter 6: The Letter and Avatar State

Zuko stood up from his throne and approached the scared servant. He took the scroll from her hands and she quickly left the room, bowing as she went. Zuko unrolled the scroll and started reading it. As Jin watched him read it, she noticed his eyes narrowing. After what felt like minutes the scroll burst into flames and the ashes fell to the floor.

"Zuko, what is it?" asked Katara standing up and walking to her friend, concerned.

Zuko ignored her and addressed a man a few seats down.

"Admiral Lee, get your men and ship ready to the Earth Kingdom. The Chikara Army has invaded the city of Gaoling."

"That's where Toph is!" exclaimed Sokka, horrified.

Zuko nodded and continued, "They've outnumbered the Earth Kingdom soldiers."

Lee bowed to Zuko and left the war room. There was silence until Zuko said quietly, "This meeting is over. Everyone except Katara, Sokka, and Suki leave now."

As soon as everyone except Katara, Sokka, and Suki left the room, Suki finally said something.

"I hope Toph will be okay." said Suki, holding onto Sokka's arm.

"Let's not forget how tough Toph is, Suki." said Sokka, "I bet you she's helping the Earth Kingdom soldiers fight."

"Why did Elvira tell you that she took over Gaoling?" asked Katara.

"She's hoping that her taking over cities will make me step down." answered Zuko looking down at the ashes.

"If she thinks you're going to give up that easily, she must be a out of her mind, right Katara?" Sokka added, looking at his sister.

She wasn't listening, she was looking at the expression on Zuko's face.

"You're not really thinking about it, are you?" Katara asked Zuko silently. Seeing him close his eyes and bowing his head, she gasped. "But you can't!" she cried, "You can't give up. We'll think of something."

"I don't think there's anything we can do, Katara." said Zuko. He turned to the fire that surrounded the throne and stared into it. "No matter how hard we try, we're losing this war."

"When the Fire Nation followed us all over the world, almost succeeding in capturing us, did Aang give up?" said Sokka. At the mention of Aang's name, Haruki closed his eyes and bowed his head. Katara's eyes brimmed with tears.

Sokka continued. "When the Fire Nation tried to take over the Northern Water Tribe, did he give up? When the Fire Nation took over Ba Sing Se, did he give up? When Sozin's Comet came, making your dad totally powerful, did Aang give up? No! He kept trying and trying. A great prince once told me that you're going to fail a lot before things work out. Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again you have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail. Aang never gave up, and I know he wouldn't want you to give up, either."

Zuko sighed, still looking into the flames.

"At least sleep on it, please?" Katara almost begged, her eyes still brimming with tears. Zuko looked at his friends and nodded. He left the throne room, thinking about what Sokka said. Jin watched him leave with a worried look on her face.

Sanosuke practiced his waterbending outside his home that evening. He waterbended some water out of the snow, froze them into icicles and pointed them at an old boat in the water. He sent the icicles down on the boat which went through the boat and into the water, the boat sinking with them. Sanosuke turned to Khalil, who was standing at the doorway, and bowed. Khalil smiled at his student. They suddenly heard a grunt and turned to the sidewalk to see some buffalo yak approaching their house.

"Khalil, look!" said Sanosuke, excitedly pointing at the animals coming, "That has to be Dad!" He ran over to the animals.

"Sanosuke, wait!" called out Khalil but Sanosuke was already looking around at the riders, hoping to see his dad. He couldn't help but notice the warriors riding the buffalo yak were avoiding the boy's face. None of the riders were his father. He suddenly noticed one of the buffalo yak pulling a cart and saw something in the cart that was covered with a sheet. He understood what it meant.

"No." he whispered, shaking his head. When the cart passed him, he fell to his knees and cried

Khalil approached Sanosuke and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Sanosuke." said the waterbending teacher, his eyes closed. He didn't even notice that the boy's eyes began to glow in a bright blue light. Khalil felt Sanosuke rise and opened his eyes to see that his student was rising into the air, eyes glowing, and an angry expression on his face. The people nearby stopped what they were doing and looked at the rising eight-year-old. Sanosuke started to move his hands and the water in the ravine started to move. A man ran to Khalil and stood next to him.

"What is it?" asked the man, horrified, "What's happening?"

Khalil watched Sanosuke perform masterful waterbending; Sanosuke waterbended a large amount of water out of the ravine and started making it into a tornado of water. Seeing his eyes glowing, Khalil understood.

"It's the Avatar State!" he exclaimed, "Sanosuke!" he yelled out to his student, "I know the pain you're feeling! I felt the same way when I lost my wife! You're parents may be gone but you're not alone! You have friends here; I promise I won't let anything happen to you!" He watched Sanosuke stop his waterbending and the water from the ravine fell down with a large splash. He slowly made his way back to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the sidewalk, his eyes went back to its regular color, and he fell towards the ground, Khalil catching him before he made contact with it. Sanosuke slowly opened his eyes and looked at Khalil, exhausted.

"What just happened?" the boy asked.

"What happened was-" the man was cut off when Khalil raised his hand to silence him.

"You're just very distressed and very tired." Khalil told the boy, "You need tea and rest." He led the boy into the house, everyone stared at them as they did so.

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a/n alright, I've been asked why I didn't use Avatar Korra and here's my answer: when I started writing this story, I had never heard of Korra and by the time I've heard of the new series I had already finished writing the first few chapters (even if it hadn't been shown to the public yet) and I couldn't make any changes without changing it altogether


	8. Chapter 7: Growing Up

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs and again, sorry about the short chapter

* * *

Fifteen year old Haruki practiced his airbending on the snowmen his mother made for him outside the village. He sent an air blast at two of them and they crumpled into a heap. He sent an air punch at another and its head fell off. He used his air swipe at the rest of them, causing the snowmen to fall apart. Haruki looked around at all the snowmen which he had made into mounds of snow except one right in front of him. He took out his boomerang and threw it at the lone snowman. It hit it directly on the head, causing it to break apart and fall into the snow. Haruki caught the boomerang as it came back and turned to walk back to the village. When he reached it he saw his mother waiting for him just outside it. She seemed to have been watching him practice.

"That was very good, Haruki." Katara told her son, as she put her hand around his shoulders and lead him inside the village.

"Mom, I want to practice my bending on people." said Haruki as soon as they entered their home. Momo, who was sleeping on Katara's sleeping bag, raised his head, chirping, and flew onto Katara's shoulder, licking her face.

"I know, Haruki." said Katara as she pet Momo and started picking up some things for dinner.

"Then why won't you let me?" asked Haruki as he helped his mother take their cooking pot outside.

"I saw you take care of that last snowman; you fight with no mercy and you need to control yourself when you fight."

"But the people in the Chikara Army aren't going to be made of snowmen," Haruki started to light a fire under the pot, "And they won't go down so easily either, nor will they show any control when they fight me."

"Oh, not this again." sighed Katara.

"What, you don't think I could handle it?"

"Oh, I know you can handle it," Katara waterbended some fresh snow into the pot, "But I wish you wouldn't be talking about fighting the army at this age. Don't you want to be thinking about it first?"

"I have already thought about it and I've already decided that I'm going."

"And when did you decide this?" asked Katara, putting some meat into the pot full of boiling water.

"After I learned what happened to my father." Haruki said silently as he put more sticks into the fire.

Katara remained silent, she explained to Haruki what happened to Aang when he was only three years old, and could not believe that he wanted to fight in the war at such a young age.

"How old were you when you wanted to fight, Mom?" Haruki asked his mother, almost accusingly.

"Way older than three, I'll tell you that." answered Katara.

They waited for the food to be finished and ate their dinner in silence.

Kya, a beautiful seventeen year old girl, threw a snowball at her brother Toshiro which hit him on the back of his head. He looked at her, annoyed while she laughed at his reaction. Toshiro threw a snowball at her which missed her by a foot. She ran away from him, laughing while he chased her with another snowball in his hand. She ran behind Appa and hid behind him. She looked around Appa, but didn't see Toshiro. She walked around him, looking for her brother with a snowball in hand. When she couldn't find him, she stopped in front of Appa, scratching her head until Appa growled. She turned to look at him and looked down at one of his large feet which he lifted up, showing Toshiro.

"Gee, thanks, Appa!" exclaimed Toshiro, sarcastically.

Kya dumped the snowball on his head, giggling.

Masked earthbenders stood miles outside their city, some staring at the sky, some staring ahead, waiting for something. After what felt like hours, war balloons appeared in the sky and a crowd of people in black rode khimodo rhinos down the road. The lead masked earthbender stomped the ground, causing a large boulder out of the ground. He kicked into the sky while it was still in the air, hitting a war balloon. The war balloon fell out of the sky and landed near the hills. The masked earthbenders behind him followed his example and earthbended boulders at war balloons to knock them out of the sky. Most of them fell, but some were still in the air. The people in black came closer to the village. While the earthbenders in the back bended more boulders at the balloons, the earthbenders in the front concentrated on taking care of the people in black. The earthbenders bended a large earth wall to keep the unwanted visitors out but the people in black were able to break through. The lead earthbender sank the khimodo rhinos' feet into the ground, trapping them, and causing their riders to fall forward off their mounts from the sudden stop. The masked earthbenders sank the people in black up to their necks into the ground. Some of the people used earthbending to stop their sinking and sent earth cuffs at the masked earthbenders. The lead earthbender put up a rock shield to block the cuffs and hurled it at the earthbenders in black. One of the earthbenders in black punched the shield, breaking it. The lead earthbender created an earthwave and rode on it towards the earthbenders in black, took some metal out of his robes, and used metalbending to bind the enemy earthbenders' hands. The enemy earthbenders struggled to get their metal bonds off but it was no good. The lead earthbender sank the enemy earthbenders up to their necks into the ground. The leader looked at the sky and saw the few war balloons left from the attack retreating away from the village. The lead earthbender suddenly noticed a man in black running away from the scene. He bended the man's feet to the ground and the man fell forward slightly. He looked up at the approaching leader nervously.

"Who...who are you?" stammered the man when the leader stood over him.

"I am the Masked Bandit. Tell your leader that the people of the city of Gaoling will never surrender and their love for their freedom and city is more powerful than even the firebenders during Sozin's comet!" The Masked Bandit freed the man and used his earthbending to send the man into the sky and land in the distance. The masked earthbenders cheered as their leader ran back to them, his arms raised in victory.

Most of the earthbenders in the army took their enemies to the Earth Kingdom prison while the others went back to the city. They took off their masks when they were just a few yards away from the entrance of their city. They didn't want their families to worry about them so they kept their fighting a secret, especially the Masked Bandit since he knew his mother would never approve. They also wanted to keep their identities a secret from the Chikara Army. The Masked Bandit took his mask off and addressed his little army.

"We did well today, everyone. If we keep fighting like this and continue to protect our homes, the Chikara Army will not stand a chance in this war."

The earthbender army bowed to their leader and they all went into their city.

The Masked Bandit went to his large home that had the Bei Fong seal on the front door. He entered his home and found the family's servant, Akari cleaning the sitting room.

"Ah, Rikiya," she said, bowing, "Your mother went to your grandparents' home only an hour ago. Would you like me to summon some kind of transportation for you?"

"Thank you, Akari, but I'm fine." answered Rikiya as he went to his room, "I actually need some rest." he shut his door behind him. He put his mask in his bedside drawer, laid down on his bed, and fell asleep.

Jin sat across her great uncle Iroh and drank her tea. After much persuasion from Iroh and Mai, Zuko allowed Jin to have a day off from her training.

"You seem stressed, Princess Jin." said Iroh after much silence, "Is something bothering you?"

Jin put down her cup, her head down, "My father makes me feel so stressed with all the firebending training and all the training to become Fire Lord." she said, "I try to be the perfect prodigy but I hate it. I wish I could talk to him but whenever I'm alone with him I get this feeling inside of me that's telling me to remain silent so I don't disappoint him."

Iroh smiled at his great niece, "Though you look like your aunt, you have so much of your father in you." he stood up, walked around the table and stood in front of Jin. "He didn't want to disappoint his father either and tried to please him too. I will see if I can talk to your father."

"Thank you, Uncle!" she jumped to her feet and hugged Iroh. She suddenly realized what she was doing and let go of Iroh. She took some steps back and bowed respectfully, her smile disappearing.

"I mean, thank you Uncle. And thank you for the tea, it was delicious." She walked out of the room. Iroh sighed sadly, wondering what happened to his cheerful, fun loving niece.

Sanosuke stood in front of the council with his head down. Khalil stood behind Sanosuke. They were at the citadel and the council sat in the very back of the room with the chief sitting in the middle. Sanosuke raised his head to address the council.

"How do you know it's me?" he asked

"We have known you were the Avatar for a long time." answered one of the council members, "Do you remember these?" He nodded to Khalil who showed Sanosuke a package and opened it. Inside were four children's toys. On the left was a little toy turtle. Second from the left was a propeller toy. Third from the left was a little monkey. The fourth was rattle type object with yellow and red swirls on its face. It was the some toys Aang played with when he was a kid. Sanosuke picked up the turtle toy.

"These are the toys I played with when I was little."

"Out of thousands of toys, those were the toys you chose," answered another council member, "The toys you picked were the four Avatar relics. These items belonged to Avatars past. Your own past lives."

"But how were you able to find them? The last Avatar was an airbender and if the temples were attacked..."

"The Avatar before you brought these toys to us years ago before he died."

"We would have told you of your identity when you turned 16," Khalil told Sanosuke, "But what with the war happening..."

"You need to master all four elements and help defeat the Chikara Army." said the chief

Sanosuke lowered his head, his responsibility crushing him.

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don't hesitate to give me tips on how to make it better, no flames please


	9. Chapter 8: The Decision

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs

* * *

Haruki practiced his airbending on his own again. Since he showed no mercy when sparring, none of the warriors in training would spar with him, neither would the warriors of the village, not even his uncle, aunt, cousins, grandfather, or great grandfather. Taking a break from practice, he watched his family doing their daily activities. Sokka and Hakoda trained the nonbending warriors while Katara and Pakku taught the waterbenders fighting and healing techniques. Toshiro was one of the warriors in training. Since Kya was an adult, her warrior training was over. Now she had more time to have arguments with her mother. This argument was about marriage.

"Kya, you're a beautiful young woman," Suki told her daughter, "I don't know how you've never been on one date in your life."

"Mom, I've told you this before," said Kya, rolling her eyes. She patted Avalanche on the head. "I'm perfectly happy without a boy in my life."

"There are many nice, handsome, smart boys here. Maybe if you got to know them-"

"Oh sure, some of them are handsome, all right, and rude, and concieted, and hard headed, and sexist..." Kya sighed, "I'm just thinking that if I do marry, I want the man I marry to be funny, selfless, fun loving, and can treat me like an equal."

"To be honest, Kya, it might take you years to find a man like that."

"Well, I waited this long." Kya shrugged.

Haruki sighed. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Kya. She's never had a boyfriend in her life. It's not like she wasn't pretty, she was actually very beautiful with her bright blue eyes, tanned skin, long dark straight hair that went down her back, hair loopies hung in front if her face, and her nice figure. Practically every boy in the village liked her but she was very picky about what kind of boy she'd like to be with.

He heard a screech and looked up into the sky and saw a messenger hawk flying towards the village. He wasn't the only that noticed it either. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the approaching animal. Even Appa woke up from his nap to look up.

"It's a message from Zuko's spy." said Katara.

Hakoda raised his arm and the messenger hawk flew into the village and landed on it. He took the message from it and it flew away. Hakoda unrolled the scroll and read it. His brow furrowed.

"Everyone ready yourselves for battle!" he yelled out to everyone in the village. The men and some of the women grabbed their machete's, spears, boomerangs, clubs, and other weapons. Children ran to their mothers who held them close protectively. Kya ran to her grandfather, concerned

"Grandfather, what's happening?" she asked him

"Chikara Army soldiers are on their way here." Hakoda answered, serious. "They'll be here sometime today." He turned to his daughter. "Katara..."

"I know what to do." Katara answered. She ran around the village gathering all the old, sick, mothers, and children of the village.

Before leaving on Appa, Katara ran to Haruki who stood in their house, putting Water Tribe warrior make up on his face.

"I know what you're going to say, Mom." said Haruki as he grabbed his boomerang, "I'm not leaving, I'm going to stay here and fight. I've been training myself for too long-"

"Actually, I wasn't going to try to have you come with me." said Katara, she went to the back corner of their home near her sleeping bag and picked up something that was leaning against the wall. She carried it to her son and held it out to him, a smile on her face.

"I know your father would want you to have this." she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

Haruki slowly took his father's staff out of his mother's hands and held it in his hands, amazed. His mother had never let him touch Aang's staff before.

"I know you will be fine." said Katara, hugging Haruki. Haruki hugged her back, a tear falling down his face. Katara kissed her son on the cheek and ran out of the house, tears falling down her face.

The warriors of the village stood at the entrance of the village, their eyes scanning for any Chikara Army ships or war balloons. Snoot started falling from the sky and the warriors knew the ships weren't far. The warriors gripped their weapons tightly as they waited. Suddenly a fireball hit the village wall, destroying it.

Haruki airbended himself onto the wall as another fireball made its way to the village and he swung Aang's staff at the fireball, sending it off course ang making it land in the water. He saw the lead ship heading nonstop towards the wall and jumped off, narowly missing the prow of the ship which cut into the wall. Haruki landed in front of the Southern Tribe warriors, facing the ship that nearly hit him.

Two more ships made their way through the wall, completely destroying it. The Chikara Army soldiers jumped down from the ships and landed in the snow. They straightened up, fireballs in hands, and ran toward the Southern Tribe warriors, yelling war cries. The warriors yelled war cries as they ran to the approaching soldiers. The battle began. The warriors were once again outnumbered but they were evenly matched to the soldiers. Kya used the chi blocking techniques she learned from her mother on the soldiers, paralyzing them slightly. Haruki used airbending to blow the soldiers away. Toshiro fought with his club and boomerang.

As he fought, Toshiro noticed a war balloon in the air. It was red but there was no symbol on it. Thinking it belonged to the Chikara Army, he threw his boomerang at it. It made contact and made a hole in the balloon. The balloon started falling towards the ground. Before the balloon even made it into the snow, the only person that was flying it jumped out of the basket, somersaulted in the air, and landed catlike in the snow. The black outfit the girl wore covered the lower half of her face. Toshiro faced the newcomer, ready to fight. The girl reached into her sleeves and pulled out a knife. Instead of thowing it at Toshiro, she threw it at a Chikara Army soldier, pinning his foot to the ground. She ran over to the soldier and kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards and land on his back. A soldier ran toward her from behind with a sword and she ducked the attack, pulling out dual dao swords. She fought the soldier briefly before knocking him to the ground. The girl started fighting more soldiers, whether with firebending or with the swords, or both. While the girl fought two soldiers at once, a soldier with a sword ran up behind her and hit her in the head with the sword hilt. She dropped her weapons and fell to the ground, unconscious. The soldier was about to burn the girl until Haruki jumped in front of her and blew air at the soldier, knocking the soldier off his feet and into the snow.

It wasn't long until the soldiers started to retreat, still sending fireballs at the warriors as they left. The warriors cheered as the soldiers left but Hakoda, Sokka, Pakku, Suki, and Kya stayed silent, suspicious. Haruki, meanwhile, knelt down onto his knees to check if the mysterious girl was okay. He felt her pulse and he could hear her breathing. His hand reached out to the part of her outfit covering the lower part of her face and pulled it down; it was Princess Jin. Haruki fell backwards in shock, staring at Jin's unconscious face.

"I don't get it, Dad." said Sokka a few hours later. He and Hakoda had checked around the village to see that everyone was okay. He, Hakoda, Suki, Kya, Haruki, Toshiro, and Katara were outside Hakoda's house. Jin was inside Katara and Haruki's home, still unconscious. "Everyone else is here and okay, why would the soldiers leave like that?"

"I'm not sure." said Hakoda, "If only there was some way for us to figure out what they wanted."

"They were looking for the Avatar."

Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw Jin outside with them.

"My father's spy sent a message many days ago that the Chikara Army were starting their search for the new Avatar. When I heard that the soldiers were going to attack this village...well...I had to come."

"What were you thinking, Jin?" Hakoda scolded the young Princess. "You could have been killed. Do your parents even know you left to come here?"

"Of course not. You know my father. He never even lets me leave the palace without a chaperone."

"You're staying here for the night," said Katara, "Tomorrow I'm taking you back home on Appa."

"I can't go back," protested Jin, "I want to help my friends in any way I can."

"You're too young." said Sokka.

"I'm the same age as Aunt Katara when she, you, and Uncle Aang traveled the world."

"End of discussion, Jin." said Sokka, "You're going back home tomorrow."

Jin glared at the adults and ran away from them. Haruki chased after her.

"After I get back to the Fire Nation, we have to go to the North Pole." said Katara, "We have to protect the new Avatar and help him learn the other three elements."

"I'll come with you." said Sokka, "You'll need help."

"I'll stay here with the kids." said Suki, holding Sokka's hand.

"You know Haruki will want to come." said Kya.

"I know." said Katara sadly, "He's a strong young man but this mission will be dangerous. Even more dangerous than the fight today."

Hakoda put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "You should get some rest. It will be a long day tomorrow."

Haruki was shaken awake before dawn the next morning. He pulled out his boomerang in defense but saw that it was Kya. She put her finger to her lips and motioned him to follow her. He saw that his mother was still sleeping and quietly followed Kya out of the house. Jin and Toshiro were already outside waiting for them. They were each holding a bag over their shoulders. Kya held her bag too.

"What's going on?" Haruki yawned.

"Get your stuff," said Kya, "We're going to the North Pole."

"We're not looking for the Avatar, are we? You know my mom and your dad are-"

"We know," said Toshiro, "And we decided to go instead of them. They're needed here more than we are."

"You guys do know that it'll be dangerous, right?"

"Yeah, we do." said Jin, "And we don't care. We've been training our whole lives for this day. We can't let all that training go to waste."

"I don't know..." Haruki looked back at his home, thinking about his mother.

"We're going with or without you." said Toshiro.

"But we would like it if you came." said Jin, "We need you and you need us."

Haruki thought about it for a moment then went back into the house without saying another word. Kya, Toshiro, and Jin looked at each other, disappointed and started to walk towards Appa. They had just climbed into his saddle when they saw Haruki with his bag running towards them.

"If you're going to help the Avatar, you'll at least need me." he said, airbending himself onto Appa's head. "Where else are you guys going to find another airbender to teach him airbending?"

"I'm glad you decided to come, Haruki." said Jin.

Haruki grabbed the reins, "Well I want to make sure you guys will be okay. Yip yip!" he added, snapping Appa's reigns. Appa grunted and jumped into the air

* * *

don't hesitate to give me tips on how to make it better, no flames please


	10. Chapter 9: Running Away

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs

* * *

Two Weeks Earlier...

Jin walked out of the palace doors to the outside, smiling. She breathed deeply and allowed the sun's warmth to touch her face. She walked over to the pond where turtle ducks swam and reached into her pocket for bread which she broke into smaller pieces and tossed them into the water. She watched the turtle ducks eat their bread pieces then went to the stables to see Jynx.

She walked inside and walked to Jynx's stall. Jynx snorted when he saw her. She patted her komodo rhino on the neck and he closed his eyes in contentment. She set up a saddle on his back and opened the stall doors wide enough for her to lead Jynx out. She opened the stable doors and jumped onto Jynx's back. She urged Jynx forward and he walked out of the stables and toward the gates to outside the palace grounds.

Jin looked around to see if anyone was watching then snapped the reins and urged Jynx into a run. Before Jynx ran through the gates, however, Zuko appeared and stopped the animal.

"Whoa." said Zuko, stopping the komodo rhino. "Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" he said to his daughter. Jin jumped off her mount and patted its neck again.

"Hello, Father." she said, avoiding Zuko's eyes, "I was just going out to explore the city for a little bit."

"Jin, you know you can't leave without-"

'Without a guard with you for protection." Jin interrupted, "I know that, but I've been practicing my firebending since I learned to walk and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself when there's danger."

"Well, I just want you to be careful. Accidents can happen. You could easily get hurt, or even get lost."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Father. I know my way around the city."

"I want you to stay in the city at all-"

"At all times, I know. Can I go now? Please?" Jin gave Zuko her wide eyed look though she knew it wouldn't work. Mai came outside and approached the father and daughter. Zuko exchanged a glance with Mai, remembering when they did the same thing as kids.

"Very funny." he said, facing Jin again, "Alright, if you can go through today without any problems, then I'll know you're capable of taking care of yourself."

Jin bowed to her father and jumped back onto Jynx. "Thanks, Father." She urged Jynx forward again he walked through the gates. Zuko started calling after her.

"And remember to come back before nightfall!"

Mai smiled and kissed Zuko on the cheek, patting his shoulder.

"She'll be fine." she assured her husband. She walked away towards the pond. Zuko waited until she is out of earshot to address a guard.

"Guard."

A guard from the gates walked over to Zuko and bowed.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I want you to keep a close watch on Princess Jin." he instructed the guard. "You know she's bound to get into trouble."

"I won't take my eyes off her for a second!" said the guard

Jin rode on Jynx through the streets. She prefered to ride on her komodo rhino instead of by palaquin. This way she didn't miss a thing when she went through the city. She had Jynx stop in front of a shop and jumped off him. She tied her mount to a nearby pole and entered the shop.

Unknowingly to her, the guard from the palace was following Jin through the town. The guard watched Jin smell the firelillies in a vase on the counter through the window. Jin bought some food for her and Jynx and turned to leave the counter. When she turned, she could have sworn she saw someone staring at her before ducking under the store window. Her eyebrows raised in a questioning way. When she left the shop, she looked at the outside of the window only to find nothing but some barrels. Giving Jynx some of the food she just bought, her eyes stared to the side at the barrels.

Seeing the barrels move slightly, she dropped the food and ran to the barrels and pushed them aside to find the guard crouching on the ground.

"Oh, erm," The guard jumped to his feet and bowed to the princess, "Good afternoon, Princess Jin. Lovely day we're having, isn't it?"

"What are you doing here?" she asked the guard sternly with a look to match. As she watched the guard stammering, she realized something

"My father sent you didn't he?" she growled in anger and ran back to the komodo rhino. "After he promised to let me do this on my own, he turned around and sent out a bodyguard for me!"

"He's just worried!" explained the guard.

Jin jumped onto Jynx. "I should have known he'd never let me do this on my own." she had her mount turn around and urged him into a run back to the palace. 

Jin ran down the corridors in the palace, looking for her father. She saw her younger sisters Morana and Ursa.

"Where's Dad?" she asked them angrily. The girls flinched at the anger in their oldest sister's voice.

"He's having a meeting with his advisors." answered Ursa, "He doesn't want any disturbances!" she added, yelling out to the running Jin. Jin ignored her and made her way to her father's throne room.

She made to get through the entrance of the throne room but the guards on either side of the curtains and stopped her.

"Let me in!" she yelled at the guards but they refused.

"Princess Jin?"

Jin turned around and saw her great uncle Iroh coming towards her.

"Is something wrong?"

"I've got something to say to Dad but the guards," she gave the guards a dirty look, "Won't let me in!"

"I think it's best to wait until your father is done with his meeting, Princess Jin." He put his hand on her shoulder, "Come have some tea while we wait."

Jin glared at the curtains and at the guards then reluctantly allowed Iroh to steer her away from the throne room.

"How could he order a guard to spy on me?" she questioned Iroh as they drank tea. Or at least, Iroh drank his tea. Jin hadn't touched her cup. She was pacing the room angrily as she talked to her uncle.

"It's so stupid! I'm fourteen years old! I don't need a babysitter! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Your father is very concerned about his family's safety." said Iroh, sipping his tea. "It may seem he treats you like a child, but he really wants to make sure you are safe."

"He's taught me firebending and how to be stealthy for as long as I can remember." said Jin, standing in front of Iroh. "He's even had Ty Lee teach me acrobatics and I can master dual dao swords and knives."

"You can?" asked Iroh, "I don't recall your parents giving you lessons on the use of weapons."

Jin's face went red when she realized she just told her uncle a secret.

"Well, they didn't teach me." said Jin sheepishly, "I actually taught myself."

"Hmm." answered Iroh, helping himself to more tea.

"Even if I didn't know how to use weapons, I can still protect myself with everything else he taught me."

"You're father has a good reason for being protective. The Chikara Army contains ruthless soldiers that show no mercy. I'm sure you remember-"

"Of course I remember!" snapped Jin, "How can I forget that horrible day?" She blasted fire at the wall in anger. Scorch marks appeared where the fire hit. Jin sighed and turned back to her uncle.

"I'm sorry, Uncle." she said softly, "I just miss him."

"I understand, Princess Jin." Iroh stood up and walked to Jin. "It's hard to lose someone you care deeply about. I felt this way when I lost my wife and when my son Lu Ten." He put a comforting hand on Jin's shoulder. A tear fell down Jin's face as she remembered the death of her little brother Izuru and walked out of the room.

As she walked down the corridor, she noticed some of her father's advisors walking in the opposite direction.

_The meeting must be over._ thought Jin, _Now I can talk to my father_

As Jin walked past the advisors, she heard what they were talking about.

"...enough on his mind already," said on of the advisors, "Now a planned attack on the Southern Tribe?"

"The Fire Lord won't sleep well tonight." said another advisor. "Let's hope that it won't happen. Something wrong, Princess Jin?" the advisor added, seeing Jin stop in her tracks, pale as a ghost. Jin didn't answer, she just ran straight towards the throne room, pushing servants aside as she ran.

She saw her father leaving the throne room and ran towards him.

"Are you okay, Jin?" he asked when he saw Jin out of breath and pale. When he saw tears brimming her eyes, he added, "What's wrong?"

"Is it true?" she asked him, her vision getting slightly blurry from the tears forming in her eyes, "Is the Chikara Army really planning on attacking the Southern Water Tribe?"

Zuko looked into her eyes and answered sadly, "It's true. My spy told me that there has been talk about an attack. Elvira is looking for the Avatar now."

"Well we've got to go and help them!" cried Jin, "Are our soldiers getting ready to leave? When are we going?"

"'We'? Jin, 'we' are not going anywhere. The Fire Nation soldiers are being sent out to the South Pole as we speak, but we're not going with them."

"Our friends are out there, I want to help."

"I'm sorry, Jin." Zuko put his hands on Jin's shoulders, "But I don't want you to get killed."

"Oh why don't you order a bodyguard for me to make sure I'm protected?" yelled out Jin, pushing Zuko's hands off her shoulders.

"What's going on?" asked Mai as she walked towards Zuko and Jin. Morana and Ursa followed her.

"I know you sent that guard to follow me around." Jin said to Zuko angrily, acting as if there was no interruption.

"Yeah, I did!" Zuko retorted, "And I'm not ashamed of it either! You're still a child and you shouldn't be going off on your own!"

"You were just fine when you were thirteen!"

"I had Uncle Iroh with me!"

"Just admit it, you don't think I can take care of myself." Jin turned and walked away from her father, walking past her mother and sisters as she went.

"You want to go to war and watch everyone around you die before your eyes?" yelled Zuko. Jin stopped in her tracks but didn't look back, "Then go! Go with the soldiers to the South Pole and see what it's like. See if I care!"

"Zuko, that's enough!" a shocked Mai yelled out. Morana and Ursa hid behind their mother. Zuko ignored her and continued to yell.

"You think you can handle that kind of pain now?" Jin turned to look back at Zuko, glaring at him, "You want to leave? Then fine! Get out of here! No one's stopping you!"

"Zuko!" yelled out Mai, but it was too late, Zuko's words hit Jin hard. She threw a fireball at Zuko and ran away, crying. Zuko deflected the flame and watched his oldest daughter go, surprised that she attacked him. Mai glared at Zuko.

"I hope you're happy." she said to him as she lead her terrified daughters away from their father. Zuko looked down, feeling upset about what he said to her.

Jin sat on her bed, hugging her knees and crying. She was angry at her father for what he did and what he said. She knew that he was trying to protect her but she wished he wouldn't treat her like something so fragile she could break just by walking.

She hated her father for not letting her be in the city by herself like he promised and for what he said but mostly she hated him for telling her she couldn't go to the South Pole to help her friends. She hardly ever saw them as it was she didn't want to not see them permanently. She looked up at the picture of her with her friends from their last visit; Kya had her arms around Jin and Toshiro. Rikiya stood next to Jin. All of them had a big smile on their faces. Even Haruki, who stood next to Toshiro with his arms crossed, had one of his rare smiles on his face. Jin took out her headpiece, making her long black hair fall to her back, jumped out of bed, and left her bedroom.

She ran silently down the corridor, lightning flashed while she ran. Jin quietly entered her parent's bedroom as they slept and placed her headpiece on their dresser. She opened her mother's drawer and took out her mother's knives. Before she left the room, she looked back at her parents.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, and hurried out.

Jin went back to her bedroom and started packing clothes and supplies. She looked at the family picture on the wall. It was made when Izuru was still alive. Zuko and Mai sat in throne like chair smiling. Jin, Morana, Ursa, and Izuru sat on the floor in front of their parents. Jin's eyes trailed from the picture of Zuko to his hand on the younger Jin's shoulder. The younger Jin had her arm around the two year old Izuru. She took the picture off the wall and put it in her bag. She sat down at her desk, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote a letter to her family about what she had done. When she finished, she rolled up her letter, tied a ribbon around it, and placed it on her bed. She put on her cloak and ran out of her room.

Jin ran to her father's study and took his swords hanging on the wall placed them in the scabbard which she then put on. She pulled out the drawers in his desk and took all the maps inside them.

Jin ran out of the palace and ran to the stable and opened the doors. Jynx snorted and stomped the ground at the sight of her, not recognizing her in the dark. She ran forward and comforted the beast showing him that it was her. She put on her hood and walked Jynx out of the stable. Jin took one sorrowful glance back at her home and rode the beast through the gate and into the city.

Ursa woke up with a start to the sound of the komodo rhino running away. She ran to her window and saw a hooded figure ride away. She ran into Jin's room, a flame in her hand for light, and saw that it was empty. She noticed the letter, picked it up, and untied the ribbon. She unrolled it and began to read. Her eyes widened as she read it. Morana and Ursa ran into Zuko and Mai's bedroom, Ursa still held the letter in her hand.

"Jin's gone!" yelled Morana, waking up her parents.

"What?" yelled Zuko as he woke up. He saw the headpiece on their dresser and recognized it as Jin's. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. As he ran down the corridor, he passed his study. He noticed something and ran back to see his swords gone. Mai ran to Zuko and stood beside him.

"Jin took my knives!" she informed him.

Zuko ran past Mai and ran outside.

"Jin!" he called out before seeing the stable doors and gates open. "NO!" Zuko fell to his knees and brought his fists down on the ground. Fire grew where his fists landed but where immediately extinguished from the rain.

Jin rode Jynx towards the air ships, hood still up, though the rain was clearing up. The airships were getting set up for the trip to the South Pole. A guard appeared and stood in a firebending stance.

"Who are you?" he called out to Jin.

Jin took off her hood so the guard could see who she was.

"Princess Jin!" The guard got out of his stance and bowed to the princess. "Why...what are you..."

"I'm here to help the South Pole. My father gave me permission to come."

"Oh well..."

Jin slid off of Jynx and walked to the nearest war balloon, her bag over her shoulder.

"A war balloon will do nicely." she said, jumping into it. "When are we taking off?" she asked the guard

"We're going to take off in just a few minutes." said the guard.

"Excellent."

Jin firebended into the tank of the war balloon to keep it flying. She was following the two airships and six war balloons to the South Pole; they were over the Earth Kingdom at that time. She wore a black fireproof outfit and shared a basket with a soldier named On Ji.  
"Do you mind if I ask you something personal, Princess Jin?" asked On Ji after a long moment of silence.  
Jin stopped firebending for a moment, hesitating, and then resumed.  
"Go ahead." Jin said finally, blasting fire into the vent.  
"Why did you run away from home?"  
Jin looked at On Ji, shocked. How did she know?  
"I didn't run away," Jin lied, "I told you soldiers before, my father gave me permission to go."  
"He let you ride your komodo rhino to the airships so early in the morning without an escort?" On Ji answered slyly.  
Jin looked away from the soldier and continued firebending.  
"It's complicated." Jin silently answered.  
On Ji left the subject at that and there was silence once more.

Jin leaned against the basket, staring at the stars while On Ji took care of the fire. She was thinking about her friends at the Southern Water Tribe and hoping that they won't be too late.  
"We'll be there in a couple days." On Ji told Jin, "You should get some sleep."  
"Don't you worry about me, On Ji." Jin told the soldier, not taking her eyes off the night sky. She looked down at the ground and saw something that made her gasp; dozens of Chikara Army catapults were below facing the airships and the war balloons. She saw a rock being loaded into a catapult and set in flames. The Fire Nation soldiers noticed this too for Jin heard shouts and commands. She saw fire blasted from the airships towards the catapults but the firebenders below shielded the catapults from the flames and sent fireballs at the war balloons. Jin watched two war balloons go down, bringing the soldiers to their deaths below. On Ji tied one end of a rope around her waist and the other end around the vent. She tied another rope to it and pulled on them to make sure they were secured. When they were, she tossed the other end of the spare rope to Jin who also tied it around her waist. The catapults were set off and the flaming rocks were thrown high into the air at the airships. Some of the flaming rocks collided with one of the airships, causing it to go down. Jin made to blast fire at the soldiers below but On Ji held her back.  
"You can't let them see you, Princess." On Ji told her, "We need to get the balloon out of range."  
"We can't abandon them!" Jin told the soldier as she tried to get back to the side of the basket but the soldier continued to hold her back.  
"The only chance we have is to escape. We aren't any help to the Southern Tribe dead." On Ji rushed to the side of the basket and made to signal the other soldiers in their balloons but was knocked backwards as a flaming rock narrowly avoided the balloon, but made a little flame on the side of the basket. On Ji quickly put it out but then another fire rock zoomed past the balloon again, making the basket rock dangerously and causing On Ji to lose her balance and fall out of the basket.  
"On Ji!" screamed Jin as she ran to the edge of the basket to help the soldier.  
On Ji's life line was secured enough to allow her to be hanging in the air. Jin saw another little fire forming on the basket and put it out while On Ji struggled to climb up her rope. The soldiers below noticed the hanging woman and started blasting flames at her, hoping to cut her rope. Seeing this, Jin started to pull on On Ji's life line, blasting fireballs at the soldiers on the ground every now and then. When On Ji was close enough for Jin to grab her hand, a fireball made contact with the rope and cut it. Jin quickly leaned forward and grabbed On Ji's hand before she could fall to her death. All around their balloon, soldiers fell from their balloons and the other airship fell to the ground. The rest of the soldiers desperately tried their best to get out their balloons out of line of target but to no avail. Jin struggled to pull On Ji back on board, trying hard not to fall out as well until their balloon started to go down.  
"We didn't get hit!" said Jin confusedly, "Why are we going down?"  
"It needs more fire!" said On Ji. She looked into Jin's eyes and Jin knew what On Ji was thinking.  
"I'll help you back up," said Jin, trying to convince On Ji, "We'll get out of this."  
On Ji's hand started to slip out of Jin's fingers. Jin tried to desperately to hold on.  
"No. On Ji!"  
The soldier's fingers slipped out of Jin's hand and she fell to the ground.  
"NO!" Jin reached out for On Ji again but On Ji was already many feet below her. Tears formed in the princess' eyes as she watched the devastation around her. She realized that her war balloon was the only one left in the sky. She looked at the soldiers on the ground aiming the next fire rock at her. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to come, waiting for death. She then remembered On Ji's wish to get Jin out of danger and ran back to the tank and firebended into it. The balloon stopped falling out of the sky and started rising again. The rock missed her by feet. She blasted as much fire as she could into the vent to keep her rising back into the sky. The firebenders on the ground shot fireballs at her and she them as much as she could while firebending into the vent. Finally, the war balloon was out of range and she was safe. Jin sat down in the basket and cried herself to sleep.

After two days of nonstop traveling Jin finally saw the ice and snow. Jin hadn't eaten anything or slept much since the attack. For a few hours, Jin tried hard to not fall asleep. She slapped herself and rubbed falling snow on her face to keep herself awake. Finally, she head shouts and looked down to see soldiers in black firebending at warriors in blue. She lifted her face mask that covered the lower half of her face. She didn't want to risk the soldiers to know who she was and try to capture her. She saw a boomerang flying towards the balloon and rip the side of it, making the basket fall to the ground. Jin put on the scabbard holding her father's swords and grabbed her mother's knives. When the basket was at the right distance, Jin jumped out of the basket, somersaulted in the air, and landed catlike in the snow. She stood up and saw Toshiro in front of her in a battle stance. She saw a soldier behind Toshiro and, realizing that he's about to firebend at her distracted friend, pulled out one of her mother's knives, and threw it at his feet, causing him to be pinned to the ice. She ran past Toshiro and kicked the soldier in the chest, knocking him down. She heard a soldier running toward her from behind and turned in time to dodge his sword, pulling out her father's swords as she did so. Her fight with the soldier was brief before knocking him to the ground. She fought more soldiers either using swords or firebending or both. She fought two soldiers at once, dodging every attack but this fight was also brief for she suddenly got hit in the head. She dropped her weapons and fell in the snow. The last thing she saw was a soldier holding a fiery fist before everything went black.

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don't hesitate to give me tips on how to make it better, no flames please


	11. Chapter 10: Old Friends

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA, just the OCs

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"So what do we do now?" asked Toshiro

"We need to bring some friends with us," said Jin. She took some maps out of her bag and unrolled one of them, revealing part of the Earth Kingdom.

"We're going to need to get an earthbending teacher for the Avatar." She pointed at one of the Earth Kingdom cities. "Gaoling's the place."

"We're going to see Toph and Rikiya?" asked Haruki, holding Appa's reins and turning slightly to look at the group.

"What better earthbending teacher than one that can see with her feet? But first," Jin unrolled another map, showing the Fire Nation. "We have to go to the Fire Nation. I have an old friend there that can be of help to us."

"Shouldn't we actually avoid the Fire Nation since your dad is gonna be looking for you?" asked Toshiro.

Jin remembered what Zuko said to her before she left and answered, "I doubt he's going to be searching for me anytime soon. But if he is looking for me, I doubt he'll think to look for us where we're going."

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Kya.

Jin smiled, "Who's in for some circus fun?"

Aura, a pretty girl with grey eyes and wavy brown hair with a braid in the back wore a pink circus outfit as she practiced her acrobatics. She was performing an excellent head stand when she heard a familiar voice.

"Aura, could that possibly be you?"

Aura broke her head stand gracefully and stood up to look at the source of the voice. When she saw Princess Jin, a wide smile spread across her face as she ran over and gave Jin a bear hug which she returned

"Jin! It is so good to see you!" Aura yelled out as she hugged her old friend.

Kya, Haruki, and Toshiro watched the reunion a few feet away. Aura saw them and let go of Jin.

"Are these the famous friends of the water tribe I've heard so much about?' she asked excitedly as she cart wheeled towards the water tribe kids.

"Aura, these are my friends, Kya, her brother Toshiro, and their cousin Haruki."

"Very nice to meet you, Aura." Kya said to the acrobat, offering her hand for Aura to shake but Aura ignored it and gave Kya the same hug she gave Jin, knocking the breath out of Kya.

"I've been waiting a long time to meet you guys!" she hugged Toshiro. "My mom always wanted to visit but it's been really busy here at the circus and there's all of us that need looking after."

"All-all of us?" gasped Toshiro when Aura released him.

Aura ran to Haruki to hug him but he just offered his hand. Aura, looking slightly hurt, shook Haruki's hand.

"Aura's one of four daughters." Jin said to Toshiro, trying to stay on the subject and hoping Aura would forgive Haruki for his rudeness.

"I'm the oldest." Aura added with a smile on her face again as she put an arm around Jin. Jin put hers around Aura's, smiling.

"So how exactly do you two know each other?" asked Kya, feeling slightly jealous of Jin's friendship.

Back at home, there weren't any kids her age to be friends with. Her family, Jin's family, and Rikiya's family only saw each other in the summer. Kya didn't mind being friends with Haruki and Toshiro but she always wished she had a friend that was a girl and was her age that she could see for more than a few weeks. The only time she was with girls her own age was when she visited Jin or when her family took spring visits to Kyoshi Island.

"We went to Royal Fire Academy for Girls together." answered Jin, "Since Aura's grandfather was a nobleman he was able to take care of the expenses."

"My mom will be so happy to see you, Jin!" Aura started to pull her friend into the nearest pink tent.

"Oh, Aura," Jin looked at the others and saw they had unsure expressions on their faces like she did, "I don't know if that's-"

"Come on, you guys!" interrupted Aura, looking at the others, "She'll be happy to finally meet you!"

Realizing they didn't have much choice, everyone followed the bubbly girl into the pink tent.

The inside of it looked like a mix between a bedroom and a sitting room. There was a dressing table near the bed, a big table in the middle of the large tent surrounded by sitting cushions and some nice red furniture with red pillows with yellow trimmings. At the dressing table doing her make-up was a middle aged woman who looked almost exactly like Aura only her hair was in a braid and her pink outfit was slightly different. She looked into the mirror saw her oldest daughter entering the tent behind her.

"You should be practicing some more, Aura." said the woman, "Showtime is in an hour." She noticed Jin entering the tent and a big smile identical to Aura's spread on her face.

"Jin!" Ty Lee yelled in welcome as she jumped out of her seat and turned to Jin. Like Aura, she ran to Jin and gave her a big hug. She released Jin and looked her over, still smiling.

"You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. When was that again?"

"Three weeks ago."

"Oh right!" she hugged Jin again as if the princess had told the woman something exciting.

The woman saw Kya, Haruki, and Toshiro walk into the tent and gasped in Jin's ear.

"I know who you are!" she yelled excitedly, releasing Jin and running to the others and gathering them into a big group hug. "I haven't seen any of you three since you were babies!

"You're Kya," she said, letting go of the teens and pointing at Kya, "You're her brother Toshiro," she pointed at Toshiro, "And you're Haruki!" she pointed at Haruki. "Oh, you look so much like your dad! Except with the hair and no tattoos and Katara's eyes."

"You know my parents?" asked Haruki, still rubbing his ribs.

"I don't just know your parents, I know your aunt Suki and uncle Sokka and I know Toph." She gasped as if she just remembered something important.

"Are your parents here? I can't wait to see-"

"They're not here." answered Jin, "Our parents let us come visit each other and I wanted to introduce my water tribe friends to my Fire Nation friends."

"Is Rikiya with you?"

"We were going to see him and Toph after we left here which involves something I wanted to tell you, Aura." she added, looking at Aura but the acrobat wasn't listening.

"You have to see my sisters! They'll be really excited to see you again!" Aura cart wheeled out of the tent, leaving her friends with her mother.

Aura's youngest sister Xiu was finishing braiding a little part of her hair on her left side of her face. When she finished, she examined herself in the mirror and sighed.

"This is as good as it's going to get...as usual." she said to herself. She walked out of her tent and stroked her sleeping pet platypus bear on the side. The beast's head looked up with a growl but seeing that it was her master, laid her head back down to go back to sleep.

"Xiu!"

Xiu looked up to see her older sisters running over to her, all of them with the same usual smiles on their faces.

"Come on, we have some visitors!" Aura grabbed Xiu's arm and lead her to their mother's tent.

"Who is it?" asked Xiu

"You'll see."

Xiu gave Aura and her sisters an annoyed look and sighed. She hated when they always did this to her. She was always the last one to know these things and always the one who had to be surprised.

When they went through the entrance of the tent, Xiu's annoyed look changed into a big smile when she saw it was Jin.

"Kya, Toshiro, Haruki, these are my younger sisters, Jun," Aura pointed at the first girl, "Zuri," she pointed at the girl next to Jun, "And Xiu." she pointed at the girl next to Zuri.

Xiu was obviously the youngest. Haruki couldn't help but notice how different Xiu looked compared to her older sisters. Unlike her sisters, she didn't wear make-up, her circus outfit was red, looked like it could've been a school uniform, and didn't show her midriff. She also didn't have a braid on the back of her head, but on her left side of her face that was barely noticeable since it was a small braid. Most of her hair was in a ponytail.

Jun and Zuri's outfits were slightly different also except around Jun's waist below her belly button were what looked like pink leaves made of fabric and Zuri's skirt was knee length with a sash around her waist. With the exception of Xiu, the circus family all wore pink.

"I can't believe you're here!" said Jun, "It feels like forever since we last saw you."

"That was three weeks ago." Xiu said, smiling and rolling her eyes which Haruki saw were gold instead of grey like her mother and sisters.

He noticed her eyes flicker up to his and he looked away, not wanting her to know he was staring.

"And it feels like the longest three weeks ever!"

"Are you staying here for the show?" asked Xiu.

The visitors looked at each other. They weren't expecting to stay around that long but they knew that they weren't going to be alone with Aura any time soon and decided it would be best to stay a little longer.

"We wouldn't miss it." Jin told the youngest sister, smiling.

Though it took out a lot of their time, the group enjoyed the show. Even Haruki enjoyed it a little.

Ty Lee, Aura, Jun, and Zuri were the only acrobatics for the circus and were the best the group have ever seen.

Xiu's performance with the animals were enjoyable too. She wasn't harsh with them like most circus performers were, she was kind and gentle with them like they were her pets.

After the performance everyone met in Ty Lee's tent for dinner. It was roast duck with rice and dumplings. Everyone enjoyed themselves as they ate the food. Haruki looked at Xiu sitting next to him and saw that she was only eating the rice.

"Are you not a fan of roast duck?" he asked her

"Not really." she answered, not looking at him.

"She doesn't eat meat." Zuri told Haruki from across the table.

Out of the corner of his eye, Haruki saw Xiu give her older sister the evil eye.

"It's not exactly something I like to spread around." Xiu explained to him, "Whenever I tell somebody this, I get made fun of. Everyone here in the Fire Nation eat meat, even the meat."

She looked behind her at the entrance of the tent. Haruki followed her gaze and saw one of the animals she performed with earlier eating some meat. Xiu turned back to the table to look at Haruki.

"I would eat meat, but since most of the animals I work with are the kind of animals people eat, it just seems pretty barbaric to me." She looked down sadly and picked at her rice

"From what my mom told me my dad was a vegetarian." said Haruki, "He was taught that all life was sacred so he didn't eat meat."

Xiu looked up at Haruki and gave him a small smile which Haruki returned. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to his right to see Kya.

"We're going to talk to Aura outside the tent." she explained to him in whisper. She and Haruki stood up from the table, along with Toshiro.

"Please excuse us." Toshiro said as he and his friends bowed to Ty Lee, "We need to talk to Aura."

The water tribe teens, princess, and acrobat left the tent and walked a small distance away from it.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Aura.

"The truth is, our parents didn't let us leave to come here." Jin confessed to her friend, "We ran away from home, our parents don't even know where we are."

"So you guys ran away to join the circus?"

"No, I wanted to see if you wanted to join us on our mission."

"Which is what?" Aura's smile disappeared.

"We're going to the North Pole." Haruki told her, "We're looking for the new Avatar and we're going to help him learn the other three elements."

"Why are you guys even going? I bet the Avatar can learn the other elements from other people."

"Because the Chikara Army attacked Southern Water Tribe." answered Jin, "I ran away from home when I heard about them looking for the new Avatar. We need to get to the North Pole before the army does or we might as well be going to the Earth Kingdom because I bet you anything the Army will kill the Avatar when they find him or her."

"Why do you want me to come with you?" asked Aura.

"We'll need someone who is very flexible, acrobatic, and can chi block." said Jin, "Also, it wouldn't be much of a mission without all of my friends with me."

Aura looked down sadly and turned away from the group.

"I'm going to need some time to think." She hugged herself and walked to her tent. The group walked to Appa to set up camp.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Xiu was hiding behind a tent, having heard everything.


	12. Chapter 11: Like Mother Like Daughter

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

The Water Tribe kids and the Fire Nation princess packed their things in Appa's saddle so they could leave. It was midday and Aura hadn't given them an answer yet about if she would come with them or not.

They decided that she wasn't going to go with them and knew that they had to leave as soon as possible and try to make up for the limited time they lost. As they packed, they heard someone walking towards them and looked around, expecting to see Aura only to find Xiu with her bag over her shoulder.

"What's up, Xiu?" asked Jin, walking to her younger friend.

"I want to go with you." The youngest sister told the group. They looked at each other, surprised.

"You don't even know where we're going." Kya told the girl.

"Yes I do. I know you're going to find the Avatar."

"How did you know that?" demanded Haruki.

"I overheard your conversation with Aura last night when I was walking to my tent," answered Xiu, unfazed by Haruki's attitude, "I know I can be of some help."

"Would that help by any chance having animals do handstands?" Toshiro asked sarcastically as he threw his rolled up sleeping bag into Appa's saddle, "Because if it is, we're not interested."

Xiu dropped her bag, ran to Toshiro, and started jabbing at certain parts of his body. He fell to the ground, motionless except for his eyes which looked up at Xiu dumbfounded.

"Don't assume my mother only taught my oldest sister self defense, ponytail." Xiu warned the Water Tribe boy.

"Did your mother even say if you could come with us?" asked Jin, though she knew the answer.

"Of course not," answered Xiu as she picked up her bag from the ground, "Mom thinks I'm some stupid little girl that's too weak to take care of herself."

"This isn't just about you wanting to help us, is it?" asked Haruki, "You just want to escape this sheltered life."

"You have no idea what it's like here." Xiu told the airbender, "All my life I've been compared to my older sisters, I've had to deal with how different I am compared to them in looks and spirit, and I've been treated like some poor defenseless child that needs protecting. I want to have my own life, I want to leave the circus where I don't have to feel overshadowed all the time and I don't have to deal with a parent that thinks she needs to hold my hand all the time."

Jin understood the feeling of having an overprotected parent, but she knew Xiu's situation was different.

"You should at least tell your mom and sisters what you're planning to do." said Kya, "I know they'll be really worried about you." She thought of her parents and knew that they were worried sick about their children.

"Absolutely not!" Ty Lee told her youngest daughter, "This mission is obviously too dangerous for a girl your age."

Xiu and the group had just explained their mission to Ty Lee (leaving out the fact that they left home without their parents' permission) and she was immediately against it.

"I'm only one year younger than you were when you went on your mission." Xiu told her mother bitterly. "Besides, I can do chi blocking without any problems and I'm very skilled with a knife."

"It's too dangerous." repeated Ty Lee.

"Mom, it's not like I'll be alone. I'll have Jin with me." Xiu put her arm around Jin's shoulders and pulled her closer with a grin. Ty Lee looked at Xiu as if it would be the last time she would see her.

"I don't know." she said, a sad expression on her face.

"Mom, I know you've been worried about my safety since Dad died, but I know I can do this. I want to help my friend take down the people responsible for his death."

It took a few minutes for Ty Lee to make a decision. She looked at the group and at her daughter in turn until finally she sighed.

"Okay, Xiu. You can go."

Xiu smiled widely and hugged her mother. Ty Lee hugged her youngest daughter tightly like as if she was thinking that if she let go something terrible would happen. Finally they released each other and looked at each other's faces one more time.

"Be safe, Xiu." Ty Lee told her youngest daughter,

"I'll be back, I promise you that."

Xiu hugged her sisters goodbye while the gang waited patiently in Appa's saddle.

"Promise you'll come back in one piece." said Jun

"Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." Xiu looked around for Aura, "Where's Aura? I'm surprised she isn't here reminding me to brush my teeth and always wash behind my ears."

"We don't know where she is." Zuri told her.

Xiu's pet platypus bear growled affectionately at her owner and Xiu patted her head.

"Be good while I'm gone, Coco." Xiu told her animal friend as she hugged its head. She gave her sisters one last hug and jumped into Appa's saddle. The bison was about to take off when Aura ran over, holding her own bag.

"I'm coming with you." She told the gang.

"Is Mom okay with it?" asked Xiu

"Yes," answered the oldest sister as she hugged her younger sisters goodbye, "She feels its best I go since you'll need some protection. I agree with her, actually."

Xiu gave her oldest sister an annoyed look as she jumped into the saddle.


	13. Chapter 12: Memories

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

"Oh, Dad," cried Katara, "I'm so worried."

Avalanche whined and nudged his head against Katara's leg.

It's been a day and a half since the kids left on Appa. Water Tribe ships had been sent out to look for the kids but so far there have been no reports. Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda stood by the Southern Water Tribe wall as they talked.

"They couldn't have gotten far," said Sokka, "Appa's not as young as he used to be."

"I hope they haven't run into any trouble." said Suki.

"If they had, I'm sure they're okay," Hakoda assured his daughter-in-law, "Those kids have been training all their lives for any attack."

Katara wasn't listening to her father; she was watching a penguin waddling nearby. She left her family and approached the animal. It waddled away from her but she continued to follow it. She followed it to a large group of penguins, the ones near her moved away.

Katara reached into her pocket and pulled out a little fish which she threw to the nearest penguin which swallowed its snack in one gulp.

_I haven't done this since I was a kid!  
_

_You still are a kid!_

Katara closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered the first time she and Aang went penguin sledding together. She then started to remember the first time Haruki went penguin sledding.

_A little boy no older than two with black hair and big blue eyes ran around after the penguins, hoping to catch one to ride on. Katara smiled and gave the boy a small fish and he giggled as the penguins swarmed around him to eat the fish.  
_

_"Mommy, help!" yelled Haruki  
_

_"Don't worry, Haruki. I'll save you!"  
_

_Katara picked up the laughing boy and hugged him tightly._

A tear ran down her cheek as she remembered how happy Haruki was until he had asked what happened to his father.

"Katara!"

Katara turned around to see Sokka running towards her.

"We've decided that as soon as we can get a boat, we're going after the kids." Sokka explained.

"I hope we'll be able to find them before anything happens." Katara sniffed and Sokka hugged her. Momo flew to the siblings and landed on Katara's shoulder, licking her cheek.

Suki reread the letter her children had left them. She knew they could fight and defend themselves well, she and Sokka had taught them warrior training, both Kyoshi and Water Tribe style. She remembered how excited Kya was to wear the uniform whenever she had the chance.

_"I want to be a great Kyoshi Warrior like you when I grow up." A nine year old Kya told her mother. She wore the Kyoshi Warrior uniform, complete, with the make-up and was unfurling a fan._

Suki's fingers ran across Kya's letter as she remembered the good times.

As Sokka packed the supplies they would need for their search for the kids, he couldn't help but think about where his kids could be right now. He wanted to know that they were safe. He knew that the kids have been training long and hard all their lives, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen to the kids.

As he remembered the training the kids went through, he smiled when he remembered Toshiro feeling embarrassed over the make-up and the uniform he had to wear when he did some of his training during one of their visits to Kyoshi Island.

_"I feel so girly in this, Dad!" An eight year old Toshiro told his dad as he wore the uniform and make-up.  
_

_"I know you feel that way, Toshiro." Sokka told his son, putting a hand on his shoulder, "I felt exactly the same way when I was younger. You shouldn't feel embarrassed about the warrior uniform, Kya likes wearing it."  
_

_"She's a GIRL Dad!"  
_

_"Well, yeah, I guess you're right about that. But you should feel proud to be wearing this uniform. There are boys on this island that would love to learn to be a Kyoshi Warrior. The silk threads __symbolizes the brave blood that flows through the warrior's veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart."_

Even after Sokka had told his son this Toshiro still wasn't sure about having to wear the Kyoshi Warrior uniform during training.

Zuko stood at the doorway to Jin's room early the morning after she left, staring at her bed as if hoping to see her sleeping in it. He entered the room, looking around, remembering all the times their family spent together.

He remembered Uncle playing the tsungi horn to the kids to help them fall asleep. He remembered his wife Mai telling the kids the adventures she, Zuko, and the gaang had when they were teenagers. Most of all, he remembered playing with his daughter Jin whe she was a little girl before her training.

Zuko laid his hand on his daughter's desk and looked at the pictures of Jin with the family and with her friends when she was younger until something caught his eye. He picked up a picture to look at it more closely; it was a picture of Zuko holding a laughing five year old Jin. This was before he started teaching her firebending and figured that must've been why she looked happier in that picture than in the others. He remembered that day so well.

_Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph had come to the palace for a week long visit. They were all outside the palace; Rikiya, Haruki, and Toshiro played a game together while Kya and Jin played with Momo and Appa. Jin giggled when Appa licked her, covering her in his saliva.  
_

_"You know, I think he might let you ride him." said Sokka, walking over to Jin and picking her up.  
_

_"Uh…" Zuko walked over to Appa, "I don't know, Sokka."  
_

_"Don't worry, Zuko. She'll be with me and I'm taking the reins."  
_

_"That's what I'm worried about."  
_

_"Oh ha ha. Don't worry, Zuko. It'll be fine. Yip yip!" Sokka added, snapping the reins. Appa jumped into the air, but not too high, and soared over the palace. Zuko could hear Jin whoop with joy as the bison flew. His eyes followed the bison, making sure Sokka didn't do anything reckless.  
_

_"Relax, Firelord Hothead," said Toph as she lounged in the shade, "I can feel your heart beat like crazy over here."  
_

_Zuko ignored the earthbender and continued to watch the bison until it finally landed back on the ground. He let out a relieved sigh.  
_

_"Thanks for the ride, Uncle Sokka." Jin hugged Sokka. She patted Appa on the head. "Thanks Appa!" she added. The bison groaned at her.  
_

_"I'm glad you had fun," said Zuko, "Now get off the bison before you hurt yourself."  
_

_Jin climbed out of Appa's saddle and slid down Appa's tail. The bison flicked the end of his tail up when Jin reached it and she was tossed slightly into the air. Zuko caught her, giving the bison an annoyed look. Jin didn't notice her father's look, she just laughed some more. Zuko put down the child and she ran to Appa's head, hugging the side of his face._

"Zuko?"

Mai entered the room and stood behind her husband. He didn't look at her, he just continued looking at the picture of him with the younger Jin.

"Zuko."

"I'm going to go look for her." He left the room, still holding the picture. He looked back at Mai. "I'm going to bring Jin home." 


	14. Chapter 13: Rikiya

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

The group flew to the Earth Kingdom nonstop after they left the circus except for bathroom breaks and at night when they needed to sleep. After all the time they lost, they had to make up for it if they needed to get to the North Pole before the Chikara Army did. Finally, after two days of traveling they made it to Gaoling.

"We made it!" exclaimed Toshiro, ready to finally stand on solid ground for the first time since early that morning.

"Let's go find a place to land." said Haruki. As soon as he said this they narrowly missed a giant boulder that was soaring towards them.

"How about someplace away from the flying rocks?" Xiu asked sarcastically.

The group looked down and saw a large group of masked people just a few miles outside the city, all of them looking up at the kids save for a boy in the very front facing the people.

"Hold your fire!" the kids heard him shout, "They're not enemies; they're friends!"

The kids gave each other quizzical looks, who did they know in Gaoling that would be part of something like this?

"Land Appa here, you guys!" shouted the boys.

"How did that kid know Appa's name?' asked Haruki, "And who are these people?"

"It couldn't be Rikiya, could it?" asked Jin, squinting down at the boy, but she saw that the boy was also wearing a mask.

"Whoever this guy is, I already like him." said Toshiro, "Any guy that calls off an attack on us is a friend of mine!"

Haruki couldn't help but agree with his cousin and had Appa land nearby the masked people. As soon as they landed, the masked boy ran over to the group, smiling widely.

"It's great to see you guys again." said the boy, "It feels like forever since the last time I saw you."

Jin realized that his voice sounded familiar.

"Rikiya?"

The boy took off his mask to show the group his face; it was indeed Rikiya.

"Who else?"

Jin ran to her old friend and hugged him, catching him off guard for a moment until he started hugging her back.

"I'm so happy to see you!" she said.

"So you started your own secret army?" Toshiro asked Rikiya as the earthbender lead his old friends to his home.

"Not exactly secret if you say it out loud like that, Toshiro." Haruki hissed.

"Yeah," answered Rikiya as if Haruki hadn't spoken, "It wasn't easy at first, but it got better once we got enough earthbenders to make it big enough."

"I can't believe you're actually the Masked Bandit." Aura said, next to Rikiya, looking at him with fascination, "I've heard so many stories; I didn't even imagine him being a fifteen-year-old boy."

Rikiya shrugged, "Well, you know stories; people exaggerate. I can't believe you guys actually ran away from home to find the next Avatar. That sounds pretty cool."

"Do you know why we're here?" asked Jin.

"You need to find the Avatar an earthbending teacher." answered Rikiya, "I had a feeling. I bet Mom'll be up to it, but I doubt she'll be cool with the flying part. Here we are." They had reached a large house. On the door was the Bei Fong seal. He opened the door wide and allowed his friends to enter first before entering himself.

"Rikiya, where were you?"

The group looked around until they saw a middle-aged woman lounging in a chair in the room by the window. She wore green clothes like her son and all the other Earth Kingdom inhabitants. Her black hair was in a bun with a headband.

"I thought you were going to be home a half hour ago."

Aura and Xiu noticed the woman was blind, how did she know Rikiya was in the same room as her?

"And do my feet deceive me?" asked the woman, standing up from her seat, "Are those your friends I see?"

"Hi Aunt Toph!" said Kya.

"Are you gonna come here and give me a better greeting or am I gonna have to earthbend you over here?"

Jin, Kya, Toshiro, and Haruki ran over to Toph and hugged her.

"You walk like good old Twinkletoes, Haruki!" she told the airbender.

Haruki smiled at Toph, he didn't mind it when people told him about his similarities between him and his dad.

"You kids sure have grown since the last time I saw you. Where are your parents? I don't feel Snoozles, Sugar Queen, or Fire Lord Hothead anywhere!"

"They're not with us," explained Jin, being careful to stick with the truth, "They're actually at home."

"I'm confused," said Aura, "Not to be rude or anything, but how can you see? Aren't you…"

"Blind? Yeah. I can actually see with my feet. I can feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. I'll show you." She slammed her foot to the ground and made some chairs made of earth for the kids to sit in.

"That's amazing!" said Xiu, sitting in her chair.

"I know. And I bet I know who you two are. You're Giggles' daughter's right?"

"Giggles?" asked Aura, confused.

"Ty Lee." said Toph. "Everybody's got their own nicknames."

"What's yours?" asked Xiu

"I've actually got two. The Blind Bandit and the Runaway."

"The 'Runaway'?"

"When our parents were in the Fire Nation, she scammed a bunch of people for their money." explained Kya.

Toph chuckled, "Good times. Now, why are you guys here?"

"How do you know we didn't just come here to see the greatest earthbender ever lived?" asked Toshiro.

"I can tell you're lying." Toph punched Toshiro in the arm. "You are so like Sokka."

"We're on our way to the North Pole to find the new Avatar," said Jin, "And we need an earthbending teacher."

"Sorry, I'm retired." said Toph, sitting back down on her couch.

"What do you mean retired?"

"I mean I'm retired from teaching Avatars earthbending. As much fun as it was, it was way too much work for me. All work and no play make Toph an unhappy girl. Besides, I can't see when I'm in the snow, remember?"

"What if Rikiya came with us?" suggested Jin, looking at Rikiya.

"But Jin," piped up Aura, "If Rikiya left with us, who would the lead-" Jin slapped her hand over Aura's mouth to shut her up.

"Lead the what, exactly?" asked Toph, suspicious

"Nothing, Mom." said Rikiya, though he knew his mom would know he was lying. Waiting for a reminder, he winced, but instead Toph just started laughing.

"Would that 'nothing' be that army you got?"

"How did you…?"

"Hello!" she pointed at her feet. "I've been waiting for you to fess up for months. 'The Masked Bandit.'" She chuckled, "That's not a bad name."

"You mean I've been trying to keep it a secret for nothing?"

"'Fraid so, Junior."

Rikiya slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Great." He muttered.

"So what time you leaving?" Toph asked the kids.

"Well, we were hoping tomorrow since we need to get to the North Pole before the Chikara Army does." said Haruki.

"Well, Junior," Toph pointed at Rikiya, "You better start packing."

"What?" Rikiya was taken aback

"Well, who else is gonna teach the Avatar earthbending?"

"But the army…"

"I'll take care of your army, son." She stood up and walked to her son.

"Are you sure?"

"I may have retired from teaching Avatars but I haven't retired from kicking some butt!" she punched Rikiya in the arm, "The Blind Bandit is back!"

"Where do you think they could have gone?" Zuko asked Katara. Zuko had only arrived in a ship an hour ago and he, Sokka, Suki, Katara, Hakoda, and Pakuu were having their conversation in Katara's house.

"Aang had to learn to bend water, then earth, then fire." said Katara, "I bet that since this Avatar's a waterbender, the kids are looking for an earthbending teacher."

"Toph." said Sokka in realization, "They must've gone to Gaoling to get Toph."

"Hold on," said Suki, "Wasn't Jin best friends with Ty Lee's daughters?"

"There's no way they could've gone to the circus."

"Think about it Sokka," said Hakoda, "Ty Lee taught her daughters chi blocking which could be useful for any kind of fight."

"Okay, so it's to the circus we go." said Sokka, standing up.

"You want to come?" asked Zuko.

"Of course! My kids are out there doing spirits-know-what."

"Katara, you should go too." said Hakoda, facing his daughter.

"But what about the young waterbenders?" asked Katara, "I still need to teach them healing abilities."

"I can take it from here, Katara." said Pakku, "I've learned enough from you to know how to do it."

"I'll stay here and help Hakoda train the warriors." said Suki.

"So it's decided," said Sokka, "Katara and I are going with Zuko. Now let's go get our kids back!" 


	15. Chapter 14: High Risk Traders

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

"Is it just me or does anyone else wanna hurl from boredom?" Xiu asked nobody in particular after three days of flying non stop since they left Gaoling.

"We can't stop for a break," said Haruki, sitting on Appa's head, "We wasted too much time already. We're only a few weeks away from the North Pole and the Chikara Army is going to be there any day now. We have to keep flying."

"Something tells me we might get there before the Army does." said Toshiro, leaning over the saddle, looking down at the water.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because there they are!"

Everyone leaned over the saddle to look down; sure enough, there were half a dozen ships heading in the same direction they were. Luckily, they were far enough away from the ships so the soldiers couldn't see them

"We have to get away from here," said Jin, remembering that night she and On Ji were attacked, "We need to fly to somewhere safe away from those ships."

She pulled her bag toward her and opened to it rummage through it. Finally, she pulled out a scroll and opened it; it was a map of where they were at. She pointed at their current location and her finger trailed all the way to the nearest town.

"There's a town nearby that we can fly over."

"Maybe while we're there we could take an eating break." said Toshiro, his stomach growling. Appa grunted, as if agreeing with him.

The kids had Appa land in the forest near the village. Appa drank from the river while the kids walked towards the village.

"We need to go to a market anyway," said Kya, "We're out of food."

"How much money did your mom give you?" Jin asked Rikiya.

"Fifty gold pieces." answered Rikiya, "More than enough to get everything we need on our way to the North Pole."

"You might not want to spread that around while we're here." said Haruki as soon as they entered the pier by village and saw what kind of village it was.

From the looks of the ships and stands, it looked like a port for pirates. Jin kept herself close to Rikiya, feeling nervous about going to a seedy pier filled with pirates and other possibly dangerous criminals, especially since she was a princess. Rikiya blushed as Jin got closed to him but couldn't help but feel delighted. He put his arm protectively around her as they walked and Jin blushed too. As the kids walked by the pier, people stared at them and the kids, with the exception of Rikiya, felt out of place wearing Water Tribe, Fire Nation, and circus clothes.

As soon as they got to the nearest shop, Haruki stopped and turned to the others.

"I'll get the food we need here." He told them. "You guys look around to see if there's anything else we could use."

Rikiya handed him some silver pieces and Haruki entered the shop, followed by Xiu.

"I'll go with him in case there's any trouble." She told the others. She almost looked like she was blushing as she went inside.

The kids enjoyed themselves going into stores and looking at all the fascinating things that were sold. When they had finished looking around, they decided to go back to the store to meet up with Haruki and Xiu. They walked past a large ship where a man was soliciting customers. As the kids walked past the man, he addressed them.

"You kids look like the traveling types. Can I interest you in some of our exotic curios?"

Aura stopped walking and looked at the man curiously.

"What are curios?" she asked.

"I don't know, but we got 'em!"

"Sounds fascinating and all," said Kya, "But we should be getting back with my cousin and our other friend."

"Oh come on, you know you want to." The man put his arm around Toshiro's shoulders, "We've got scrolls, weapons, maybe some jewelry for the pretty ladies?" he added, eyeing Kya, Jin, and Aura.

"I don't know…" said a slightly nervous Kya. It didn't feel right to get on a ship when they were in such a shady town.

"It couldn't hurt to look around." said Aura. She and the others followed the man onto the ship.

The man led them into the ship's hold and the kids gasped when they saw all the things that were inside. They spread out and looked around at all the items like the scrolls and animal skins and weapons. One weapon caught Toshiro's eye; it was a sword that was dark as coal. As he examined it, he couldn't help but feel that this sword was more special than any other weapon he had ever seen, though he had no idea why.

"I see you're interested in one of our better merchandise."

Toshiro looked up to see a man with gray hair, wide brim hat, and a huge green parrot like creature on his shoulder.

"What kind of metal is this?" Toshiro asked the gray haired man.

"Don't know. We just found it months ago in the Wulong forest. This little beauty can cut through any kind of metal though."

This sounded very familiar to Toshiro and apparently to Kya, Jin, and Rikiya too.

"You seem familiar," the man looked at Toshiro suspiciously, "Have I seen you before?"

"Doubt it."

The man continued to look at Toshiro suspiciously as the Water Tribe boy walked away to his sister. He pulled Kya aside to the scroll rack and pretended to be interested in one of the scrolls.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered to Kya, looking at the map.

"Yeah, that has to be Dad's space sword." Kya looked back at the sword but quickly turned her directing back to the map Toshiro was holding when she saw the man with the green creature looking at her.

"What do you think?" asked Toshiro, "Should we try bartering for it?"

"There's no way he'll barter a sword that special for a cheap price," said Kya, shaking her head slightly, "We don't have any money that we could use to buy it and we don't have anything that would be even trade. And this guy looks like pirate material so there's no way we can just go up and say 'Hey that's my dad's sword, can we have it back?'"

"We gotta try, it's rightfully Dad's. Besides, it could be pretty useful for us."

Toshiro rolled the map back up, put it back on the rack, and led his sister to the sword, making it seem like he was trying to show it to her.

"Doesn't this look like a cool sword?" he asked Kya, "It could be pretty useful."

"How much for the sword?" asked Kya, cutting to the chase.

"Two hundred gold pieces." answered the pirate

"For a _sword? _"

"How about thirty gold pieces?"

"Two hundred gold pieces." The pirate said this with a growl, as if this sort of thing has been done before, "Take it or leave it."

The Water Tribe siblings gave each other hopeless looks. They knew they wouldn't be able to buy it without using up all their supply money, and they didn't have anything that would be even trade. They walked away from the man until Toshiro suddenly had an idea. He walked over to Jin whispered something to her and she gave him a confused look

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Jin continued to give her friend a look and walked to one of the shelves. She looked around for a second until she grabbed a gold bracelet and ran out of the hold.

"Hey!" yelled Toshiro. "She just stole something!"

"What?" yelled the man that led the kids into the hold in the first place. He ran out of the hold, along with a bunch of other men. The pirate with the green creature ran to the door of the hold, watching his men chase after the princess. Rikiya, Kya, and Aura looked at each other, confused.

"What was that about?" asked Kya. Toshiro suddenly ran to her side, grabbed her arm, and started to lead her out of the ship's hold.

"Well, nothing of interest here!" he said loudly as he and Kya walked past the pirate, "Let's go find Haruki and Xiu!"

Rikiya and Aura followed the siblings, still confused. The green creature on the man's shoulder screamed at Aura as she walked by and she flinched. They followed the siblings away from the ship.

"What was that about?" asked Aura.

"I'll explain later when we get out of here." answered Toshiro.

The kids walked back to the shop where they found Haruki and Xiu waiting for them, both holding baskets filled with food.

"Where were you?" demanded an annoyed Haruki, "We've been waiting for you."

"We just looking around, now let's get out of here." Toshiro began to push Haruki and Xiu away from the shop.

"Wait, where's Jin?"

No sooner after Xiu asked this a knife whizzed past her head. The kids looked around and saw the pirates running towards them, weapons in hand. One of them held Jin with her hands behind her back. She struggled against the large man holding her.

"Give back what you took from us and we'll give your pretty little friend back." said one of the pirates.

"I don't know what they're talking about!" Jin yelled to her friends, "I gave back what I took from them."

Kya looked at the pirates then at Toshiro's nervous look and that's when she knew.

"You didn't…" she hissed at her brother

"What's going on?" asked Xiu.

"Unless you want to see your friend on the inside…" but before the pirate finished his threat, Haruki dropped his basket, shoved his friends aside, and swung his father's staff, using airbending to force the pirates away. Jin ducked so she didn't get hit. Before running, she reached in one of the pirate's pockets and pulled out the bracelet she stole before.

"This is exactly what I wanted too!" she said to the fallen pirates before running back to her friends. Haruki grabbed his basket off the ground and ran with his friends away from the pirates.

"What's going on?" Xiu repeated her question, "Why were those men threatening us?"

"I can't believe you took it, Toshiro!" Kya scolded her younger brother.

"Oh like you wouldn't have done it!" retorted Toshiro.

"No, I wouldn't have done it!"

"Done what?" demanded Haruki as they ran into the forest.

"So this is Uncle Sokka's space sword." said Jin, examining the blade as she and the gang rode on Appa over the ocean. "I can't believe he couldn't find it!"

"I can't believe you put our lives in danger just to get some stupid sword!" said Xiu, looking very annoyed.

"It's not some stupid sword," said Toshiro, looking like Xiu had deeply offended him, "This is my dad's _space sword._ Do you have any idea about it's history? My dad made this sword himself out of some space rock and he used it during the eclipse invasion at the Fire Nation and during Sozin's Comet!"

"You still almost got Jin killed."

"At least I got a bracelet out of it." said Jin.

"Do you think the kids might still be here, Zuko?" asked Katara as she, Zuko, and Sokka approached some circus tents.

"It'd be foolish not to at least check. If they were here, Ty Lee will be able to tell us where they were headed."

They approached a large circus tent that was pink where a middle-aged woman with a braid practiced her stands. If it weren't for her large grey eyes Katara and Sokka wouldn't have been able to recognize her.

"Ty Lee?"

The woman was in the middle of doing a stretch when she heard her name being called out. She looked around and saw her old friends.

"Katara? Sokka? Zuko?"

She ran to them and gave them a big bear hug.

"Oh, I've missed you so much!" she said excitedly. She released them and they massaged their ribs. "It's funny that you're here. You just missed your kids a few days ago."

"So they were here?" asked Zuko.

"Well, yeah. You didn't know?"

"No, we didn't. They ran away from home."

Ty Lee gasped, covering her mouth.

"I-I'm so sorry! They told me you guys were letting them find the new Avatar. I let Aura and Xiu go with them!"

"Who?" asked Sokka.

"Aura and Xiu are two of my daughters. I'm so sorry. If I knew..."

"Ty Lee," Zuko put his hand on the acrobat's shoulder, "I really need your help."


	16. Chapter 15: Father and Daughter

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

"Getting to the North Pole won't be easy if the Chikara Army is heading the same way." said Zuko, "They almost have the same amount of ships as the Fire Nation for the siege of the North Pole years ago."

"With luck, we won't have to get to the North Pole," said Sokka, "We just need to get the kids before they make it there. And with Katara's help we're making great time."

Katara was moving the ship through the water quickly with waterbending while Zuko and Sokka talked. Momo watched her, chattering. As she worked, she noticed a village a few miles away.

"We should probably go to that village over there." she said to the men, "There could be a chance the kids could be there."

"After a few days of traveling they could've stopped to get more supplies." said Sokka, his hand on his chin as he thought about it. "What do you think Zuko?"

"I don't want to risk missing a chance to get my daughter if she is there." answered Zuko.

Without saying anything Katara began waterbending the ship toward the village.

After several minutes, the adults finally made it to the village.

"Something about this place seems really familiar to me," said Sokka as he scanned the streets for the kids, "I can't help feeling that we've been here before."

They walked past a ship where two men had a conversation. As the adults walked by them, they couldn't help but hear part of what they were saying.

"We've been looking for days, Captain," said one of the men, "We can't find those kids anywhere."

"Don't you know how much they stole was worth?" demanded the other man. Zuko couldn't help but notice that this man was familiar. "How could you have lost them? They couldn't have gotten far on foot!"

"One of them was an airbender, maybe he had one of those bisons that fly."

Zuko stopped where he was when he heard the word "airbender" he walked closer to the men as they continued their conversation.

"Maybe it was that airbender we met years ago."

"This airbender, was he with anyone that could've been from Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, or Fire Nation?"

The pirates looked up at the newcomer as he finished the sentence. They noticed his scar and recognized him immediately.

"You!" they shouted at the same time, pulling out their weapons and pointing them at Zuko who continued to glare at the pirates.

"Surprised to see me?"

"Surprised to see you alive!" said the pirate captain. "But that's something we can fix."

"That can be something we can give to you in return." said Katara as she and Sokka ran to their friend's aid, ready to attack.

"I think there's a way for us to help you with your little problem." said Zuko, "First you need to help us with our little problem."

"Ha! Why should we do anything for you?" asked one of the pirates.

"Because, whatever those kids stole from you, we can get it back to you," said Zuko, "Maybe even give you more."

The pirate captain glared at Zuko, and Zuko did the same. After several minutes, the pirate captain growled, "How can you give back what's been taken from us?"

Zuko smirked.

The full moon cast its rays on the kids' camp where the fire still was still blazing. Everyone but Jin slept around the fire. She got out of her sleeping bag and silently walked away from camp towards the water, making sure not to wake anyone as she walked.

As soon as she made it to the river she got on her knees, cupped her hands, and put them into the water to collect water into them. As she did this the bracelet she took the day before glinted in the moonlight. She raised her cupped hands to her lips and drank the cool water. She looked up at the full moon; some of its rays were on her. She closed her eyes, sighing, thinking about her family, missing them. She remembered the fun times she spent with her family and friends, especially at night. When she started to remember the time her father taught her to dance during a full moon anger burned inside her as she suddenly remembered her fight with him. Her hands balled up into fists, fire forming around them, and with an angry yell shot fire at a nearby tree and watched it burn, anger still boiling up inside her.

Meanwhile, Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and the pirate captian were on the deck of the pirate ship, looking at the river where they noticed a tree burning and a girl making it burn. Sokka and Katara looked at each other while Zuko continued to watch his daughter burn the tree.

Jin threw fireballs at the already burning tree, tears streaming down her face. Finally, she stopped and cried silently. As she cried she walked back to the river and looked down at her reflection in it. It was the first time she saw her reflection in weeks. Instead of seeing a girl wearing royal Fire Nation clothes with her hair in a top knot and wearing a crown, Jin saw a girl wearing dirty and torn Fire Nation peasant clothes, hair dirty and gone a little wild with tears streaming down her beautiful face. She wiped her tears and turned to walk back to camp, but there stood a pirate, who grabbed her.

"No, let go of me!" she cried. She tried to pry the pirate's hands off her but he was too strong. She put a hand on the pirate's arm and started to burn it. He let her go with a yell of pain. Jin started to run but wound up right into Zuko's arms, who held her fast. She looked at her father in shock, obviously not expecting to see him.

"I guess you can't take care of yourself as much as you think." He said to her.

Back at camp, Kya started to wake up. She noticed Jin's empty sleeping bag next to her.

"Where did she go?" she whispered to herself as she crawled out of her sleeping bag. She began to look for Jin around the area, the others woke up as she did this.

"What's wrong?" yawned Toshiro, watching his older sister looking through the bushes.

"Jin's gone!" Kya announced to the waking kids, "Why is it that one of you guys always has to wander away like this? It's just a matter of time before we all get in deep-" Kya's sentence was cut short when her hands got wrapped in a sling thrown from a distance.

She was pulled right off her feet, screaming and landed on the ground where she faced a pirate who threw another sling at her. She rolled out of the way. Xiu pulled out her knife and quickly cut Kya free. The Water Tribe girl picked up her katana and charged the intruder. Two nets were fired at Haruki, Aura, and Xiu. Haruki sent an airball at the approaching net while Aura held Xiu close to her protectively, but the air passed right through it. One of the nets rolled Haruki up into a nice neat bundle and he was thrown backwards onto the ground, the same with the circus siblings, only they were bundled into the same net. Some of pirates began dragging them away. Toshiro grabbed his club and ran toward the pirate dragging Haruki but he too was caught in a net. Before Rikiya could earthbend at the attackers another net was fired and he fell backwards as the net bundled him up too. During her fight with the pirate Kya saw her friends being dragged away, distracting her from her fight. The pirate she was fighting took advantage of her distraction and wrapped a rope around her fists, making her drop her weapon. He tied a knot around her wrists and dragged her away along with her friends.

"When we said we were trying to drag our kids home, this wasn't exactly what we had in mind." Sokka untied Kya's wrists and she was freed, but she didn't seem happy about it.

"Father, why are you working with these pirates?" Jin demanded her father, following him out of the ship. She wore a Fire Nation robe over her traveling clothes it keep her warm. She saw her friends tied up and gasped.

"We brought you the brats," The pirate captain took a menacing step towards Zuko who stood his ground, "Now make them give us what's ours!"

"Dad, it's not what you think…" Toshiro tried to explain to his father but Sokka held up a hand to silence his son.

"You will give the pirates what you stole, and we will go home."

"But Dad-"

"No buts! Toshiro I can't even believe you even stole something, especially from pirates! I thought your mother and I raised you better than that! And Kya," he turned to his daughter,

"How could you let your brother steal in the first place?"

"It was space sword!" Jin yelled out before Sokka could say anything else. Everyone turned to look at the princess.

"What are you talking about, Jin?" asked Zuko

"It was Sokka's space sword that we stole." explained Jin.

"Enough talk!' yelled the pirate captain, "Give us back what you stole!"

"You found my sword?" Sokka asked quietly. He spent months searching for his sword after the war and hearing that his kids found it practically made him speechless. Toshiro nodded.

"It's back at our camp." said Toshiro, more to the pirates than to his dad. "My friends and I can get it for you."

"Toshiro!" Kya was shocked that Toshiro was going to give the pirates a sword that didn't even belong to them, especially after what he said back in the pirate ship. The pirate captain laughed viciously.

"You really expect me and my crew to fall for something like that?" he laughed again. "No, only one of you is going to go get it."

He looked around at each of the kids in turn until he settled on Jin. The princess didn't seem much like a threat if she allowed herself to get captured so easily. It also would be good revenge against her father if she did anything untrustworthy enough for his men to kill her.

"You're going to get it." He pointed at Jin. "And just so you don't do something untrustworthy, some of my men will go with you."

"Don't you dare hurt her!" threatened Zuko, his fists flaming.

"As long as she doesn't attack my men or try to escape," the pirate captain took out his sword and ran a finger across the blade, "You won't need to worry about your pretty little girl's safety."

Haruki and Rikiya made to attack the captain but the pirates held them back. Jin glared at her father then at the pirates.

"Come with me."

She removed the robe, handed it wordlessly to her father, who took it, and walked away from the adults towards the camp. Four menacing looking pirates followed after her.

"Threatening the kids wasn't part of the deal." Sokka told the pirate captain.

"You didn't say not to threaten them." The pirate captain gave Sokka a smirk.

Jin led the pirates to the camp and started rummaging through a bag on the ground by Appa. Appa growled at the pirates. They readied their weapons in case the bison attacked. Jin pet Appa and muttered soothing words to him as she looked through the bag. Finally she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. She put on the scabbard and closed her eyes, thinking, and breathing deeply; her back was still to the pirates.

"Well?" demanded one of the pirates, "Where's the sword?"

"You want a sword?" asked Jin, her eyes still closed and her back still to the pirates, "Well, here's two!" She quickly opened her eyes and turned to the pirates, pulling her father's swords out of the scabbard as she did so. With her sword fighting and firebending combined, she began to fight the pirates off.

The adults and kids started hearing some shouts and looked at the direction of the kids' camp. Realizing what it meant, the pirate captain and the rest of his men bolted towards the camp, closely followed by the kids and their parents.

The last pirate standing fell to the ground at Jin's feet. She put the swords away and quickly started packing and throwing things into Appa's saddle. She would need to get back to her friends and save them from the pirates. After throwing the last bag into Appa's saddle, she heard the sound of pounding feet and turned to see the pirates running towards her. One of the pirates threw a sling at her which she burnt to ashes before it even touched her. She threw some knives at the charging pirates, pinning some of them to the trees or to the ground. The rest of the pirates still kept running, with their captain in the lead. Knowing how this was going to end, Jin pulled the swords back out and waited. The captain reached her first and they began to fight. Before any more pirates could attack her Aura and Xiu jabbed at the pirates on the legs or on the arms as they ran, causing those pirates to either stumble and fall or drop their weapons. Rikiya earthbended a cage around as many pirates as he could while Haruki used airbending to blow some of the pirates away. Toshiro, Kya, and Sokka fought off a few of the pirates with the weapons that were hidden on their person. Katara used waterbending on the pirates running into the camp. Appa growled and charged at any of the pirates near him or attacking his friends. Even though she had a lack of sleep, Jin fought off the pirate captain hard and without showing restraint or weakness until the fight caused her to trip over a rock behind her and fall. The pirate captain brought down his sword but Jin used the broadswords to defend herself from this attack. Jin tried to stand up but the captain's green creature swooped down and rammed into her at the side, knocking her over again, this time causing her to drop her weapons and making them skid away from her. Still on the ground, she quickly tried to retrieve them but the captain brought his foot down on her wrist and she yelled in pain. She heard a crack and knew that her wrist was broken. Jin was about to firebend with her free hand when she saw that the captain's sword was at her throat.

"I warned you, girl." Before the pirate captain could do anything else, a hand grabbed the captain's sword hand and burned it. The captain yelled and dropped his sword. He stumbled backwards, freeing Jin. She got up as quick as she could without hurting her wrist any more and her father quickly brought her aside away from the danger, picking up the swords as they went.

"Get the others out of here," he told her, "Sokka, Katara, and I will hold them off."

"What? No, I'm staying with you!"

"You've done well. I know now that you were right all along; you can take care of yourself. I wish I could have realized this sooner."

"Father, about what happened back home-"

"No, you were right to be angry with me. I know how it feels to be treated like a child instead of being treated my age. Just remember, no matter what happens I will always love you." He and Jin hugged tightly and slightly awkwardly because of Jin's wrist.

"Get to the North Pole before the Chikara Army come. When you get there, don't stay; just get the Avatar and leave."

Zuko put his swords into the scabbard Jin still wore. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You really want us to…"

"Yes. It's about time that Team Avatar got some younger blood in it. Now go! We'll send you a messenger hawk when we get to safety."

Jin hugged her father once more and kissed him on the cheek. Zuko ran back to camp and rejoined the fight. Jin ran to Appa and grabbed his reigns to pull him away. The bison reluctantly followed.

"Don't worry, Appa." The princess reassured her furry friend when she brought him to safety, "I'm getting the others and we're out of here."

Jin ran back to the camp, holding her hurt arm to her side to keep her wrist from hurting more and collected her friends, firebending as much as she could at anyone attacking her. When she got all her friends, they jumped on Appa and flew away from the forest. As they fought, Zuko, Sokka, and Katara watched their kids leave.

"Good luck, Jin." Zuko muttered before fighting again

"So what do we do now?" Toshiro asked Jin, who sat on Appa's head, reins in hand.

"Now we're going to the North Pole to get the Avatar." answered Jin. Kya took care of her wrist. "We wasted time today but we can make up for it if we just fly all night. If that's okay with you, buddy." she added, patting the top of Appa's head. The bison groaned at her.

"Your dad's cool with it then?" asked Xiu.

"He has faith in us now." a small smile spread on Jin's face. "My dad will talk to Aunt Katara and Uncle Sokka and they're going to send us a message as soon as they can."

Momo, having just joined the team as they flew off, chattered and licked Jin's face. She smiled and petted the flying lemur. 


	17. Chapter 16: Sanosuke

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

After two weeks of traveling almost nonstop (almost being the keyword since the team now only stopped at night for sleep and bathroom breaks), they were almost at the North Pole. The kids wore warmer clothes because of the freezing weather.

"I feel at home here." said Kya as she looked over the saddle at the icebergs beneath them as they flew over the water, "It felt way too warm in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom."

"Imagine how I feel when I visit the South Pole." said Jin, not looking up from the map she was examining. It was hard for her to hold the map right because of her bandaged wrist which was still broken.

"We should be at the Northern tribe in a few minutes." Jin informed Haruki, who sat on Appa's head as usual.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave." said Haruki, looking back at the others slightly before looking ahead again. "I want to get out of there before the Chikara Army comes so we can't stay long."

"We got that the first ten times." said Toshiro, annoyed at his cousin's constant reminding.

"I'm surprised you don't want to stay and fight the army, Haruki." said Xiu, "I mean you're always training and from what Jin told me and my sisters, you couldn't wait to join the fight against them."

"After what happened with those pirates, I'm not taking any chances of one of us getting captured or hurt."

As soon as these words left Haruki's mouth, Appa lurched forward into a sudden stop, causing his riders to almost getting thrown off. Momo clung to Toshiro's arm, chattering.

"What just happened?" asked Aura, clinging to Rikiya's arm.

Haruki leaned over one side of Appa's head and saw that a large iceberg clung to the bison's legs. Holding his boomerang, he jumped off Appa's head, landed on the iceberg, and raised the boomerang to try and break the ice when Kya suddenly called out.

"Haruki look!"

Haruki looked around and saw several ornate wooden skiffs coming out from behind icebergs to surround Appa.

"We're here!" said Jin, "We've made it to the Northern Water Tribe!"

The nearest skiff contained a middle aged man. He addressed the kids on the bison.

"Who are you?" he demanded, "What is your purpose here?"

"We're looking for the Avatar." said Aura.

"They're Chikara Army soldiers!" accused a young boy, getting into a fighting stance. Furious, Haruki airbended onto the skiff containing the accusing boy.

"Don't you dare call me a soldier of that army!" he snarled, pointing his boomerang threateningly at him. The boy, unfazed, glared back defiantly, still in a stance.

"You're an airbender!" said the middle aged man who spoke first, pointing at Haruki. "We haven't seen an airbender since…" he got a look of realization on his face. "You're the last Avatar's son, aren't you?"

"Yes." said Haruki, his eyes not leaving the boy's face.

"Ahanu, calm yourself." The man ordered. The boy reluctantly got out of his stance but he continued to glare at Haruki.

"Please excuse my student." said the man, approaching Haruki. "We got a message several weeks ago that Chikara Army soldiers were on their way here." He raised his arms and slowly brought them back down, causing the iceberg holding Appa to melt into the water.

"We did not expect a group of children to come to get the Avatar. Why do you want him?" he added, looking at each of the kids in turn.

"We want to help him master the rest of the elements." explained Jin. "Our parents helped the last Avatar do this, and we wish to do the same."

She looked around at all the boys in the skiffs. "Is he with you?"

The man shook his head. "He is back at our village with the rest of our warriors. He didn't want to evacuate with the others. Now I feel that he made the right choice. We will lead you to our city."

"Master Khalil," Ahanu took a few steps forward, looking at his teacher, "You cannot believe that they could be on our side! How do you know they can be trusted?" He glared at Haruki again.

"Be quiet, Ahanu." snapped Khalil.

Ahanu silenced himself, glaring at the team. Khalil turned back to the kids.

"Follow us."

As Appa swam in the water through the city, the warriors gawked at him and his riders from the sidewalks and the foot bridges.

"I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here!" exclaimed Haruki as he looked at all the boys they passed.

"How are we supposed to know which one is the Avatar?" asked Kya, also looking at the boys nearby.

As they reached a bridge, where a lone boy stood, Momo suddenly sat up, looking at the boy. The lemur jumped into the air and flew up to the boy. The team could hear the boy yell out in surprise as the bison got under the bridge. Jin stood up as soon as the bridge passed over them and grabbed the railing to the bridge with one hand.

"Jin, what are you doing?"

Instead of answering Rikiya, Jin used her firebending to help her climb up to the rail the rail to the bridge. It was difficult because of her wrist. She faced the boy with the lemur on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about my friend's lemur." said Jin, "I don't know what came over him."

She noticed the lemur licking the boy's cheek and blushed even more, "I'm sorry." She said again.

"It's fine." assured the boy, petting the lemur. "I've never actually seen one of these before."

The boy looked at the Princess for the first time and couldn't help but stare; her long dark hair was all down save for a little ponytail in the back, she wore a red parka which complimented her gold eyes.

"Not surprising." said Jin, relief washing over her. "He's the last one of his kind."

She held out her good arm and called the lemur. Momo flew to the Princess' shoulder.

"My name is Jin, by the way." She added. She held out her good hand which the boy shook.

"My name is-"

"Jin, come on!"

The two turned to see Kya running up the bridge towards them.

"The others are waiting for you!" she told the princess, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the boy.

"I-I guess I'll see you around." Jin called back to the downcast boy.

The chief of the water tribe stood in front of a crowd of warriors.

"Earlier today, some of our warriors found some outsiders," The chief told the warriors, "But these outsiders were none other than two of our brothers and a sister from the Southern Water Tribe."

He indicated Haruki, Kya, and Toshiro who stood behind him, along with their friends.

"Haruki, son of Avatar Aang and Mighty Katara. Kya and Toshiro, daughter and son of warriors Sokka and Suki. They have brought with them friends."

He indicated the Southern Water Tribe children's friends.

"Rikiya of the Earth Kingdom, son of Toph, the greatest earthbender in the world. Aura and Xiu of the Fire Nation, daughters of Ty Lee. And Princess Jin of the Fire Nation, daughter of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Mai."

The warriors looked at each other, some, like Ahanu, looking skeptic.

"They have come with an announcement." The chief stepped aside to allow Haruki to step forward to address the warriors.

"We're looking for the Avatar." said Haruki, looking at all the warriors, "We need to take him with us to help him master all four elements."

None of the boys moved. They just stood there, looking at Haruki and his friends.

"Could the Avatar please step forward?" asked Jin, walking forward to stand next to Haruki.

After a moment, one boy finally walked forward; it was the boy Jin met. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"I am the Avatar." said the boy. "My name is Sanosuke."

Meanwhile, the Chikara Army ships were getting very close to the Northern Water Tribe. Because all the warriors had to be in the city for the announcement, the ships were able to pass through the waters easily. At the front of the ship, looking straight ahead was a woman wearing black armor, her long black hair all down except for a small bun at the top with red ribbon, her lips as red as blood and her eyes as dark as night like her armor and hair. A man approached her from behind and addressed the woman.

"The trebuchets are ready, Admiral Elvira."

The woman's red lips spread into a small smile.

"Excellent." She whispered. 


	18. Chapter 17: A Change of Plans

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Jin stood at a bridge looking at the night sky. The moon was full and bright. When its rays started to cast over her, she closed her eyes, sighing in contentment. Though she was a firebender, Jin always felt more at home, more safe, when she was near water. It was as if she was a waterbender instead of a firebender.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Jin jumped slightly, looking around to see Sanosuke standing next to her. His body was facing the railings, with his arms draped over the edge of the railings like hers was and he too was looking at the moon.

"Princess Yue must be in a good mood if the moon is shining bright tonight."

Jin looked down at the water, there were tears brimming her eyes as she remembered the story Iroh told her about the princess that gave her life to the moon spirit to bring back the moon. Sanosuke noticed the tears.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worried that he might have hurt her.

"I'm fine." Jin raised her gloved hand and wiped the tears away. "That story just gets me crying every time."

"You've heard it?" asked Sanosuke, surprised. "I never expected that tale to be popular in the Fire Nation."

"My Great Uncle Iroh told me this story when I was a little girl." explained Jin, looking at the moon again, "He was one of the few people there when it happened."

Sanosuke nodded and looked at the moon with Jin.

"Why didn't you tell me you were the Avatar?" asked Jin after a long moment of silence, not taking her eyes off the moon.

Sanosuke had expected this to come up. "Because... I never wanted to be." His gaze lowered from the moon to the water below the two, his reflection looked back up at him. "I just don't know if I'm ready to help the world yet. It feels like so much responsibility to put on a fourteen-year-old's shoulders. I wish this could've waited until I was more ready."

Jin looked down at their reflection with Sanosuke.

"I know how it feels to have the weight of responsibility crush you. Being the daughter of the Fire Lord isn't exactly a picnic either." She put a hand on his arm. "I know you're nervous, but we'll be with you to help every step of the way."

Sanosuke looked up at Jin and smiled. She continued to look down at the water. The Avatar couldn't help but notice how lovely the princess looked in the moonlight.

Apparently he was staring because at that moment Jin said to him, "Please don't stare at me like that. I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable."

"Sorry Princess." answered Sanosuke, looking away, blushing. Something falling out of the sky caught his eye. He reached his hand out and caught something small and black. He and Jin closely examined it and Jin gasped.

"It's snoot." She whispered, horrified.

"Snoot?"

"Snow mixed with soot. My friends have seen it before their village was attacked by…" she gasped again, "The Chikara Army is here."

She cupped her hands, collecting a lot of the black snow. "And by the looks of it, they brought a lot of their ships."

The warriors argued in the great hall of the citadel about what to do.

"We should fight!" shouted one. "We have the Avatar, we can win this!"

"He's only mastered one element!" shouted another, "It would be foolish to send him out there unprepared."

"Listen to me!" shouted Kya, standing before the warriors, "The Chikara Army is only here because of the Avatar. They will not leave until they have him or until they know he's not here. My friends and I can take him to safety. The Army won't do much harm to your city if you don't have him."

"How do we know we can trust you?" demanded Ahanu. Some of the warriors near him nodded in agreement. "How do we know you're not just going to take the Avatar to those soldiers? You could've led them here for all we know!"

Haruki made to attack Ahanu but Toshiro and Rikiya held him back with great difficulty. The chief stepped forward, hands raised in front of him.

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed. The warriors stopped arguing and Haruki stopped struggling against Toshiro and Rikiya. The chief turned to Khalil, who stood behind him. Sanosuke stood next to his guardian.

"Khalil, you are Sanosuke's guardian. What do you think would be best for him?"

It took a while for the old master to answer. He lowered his head to consider his answer before raising his head again.

"All I care about is Sanosuke's safety. If sending him away will protect him from harm, then so be it."

Sanosuke lowered his head in acceptance.

"I promise he will be safe with us." said Jin, bowing to Khalil. The old man smiled at the girl before turning to his adopted son.

"Don't do anything reckless while you're away."

Sanosuke smiled sadly and bowed to his guardian.

"I will make you proud, Master Khalil." he said before straightening up again. He suddenly hugged Khalil tightly, to the surprised to old man but he hugged his pupil back.

The Avatar released his waterbending teacher and followed his new teammates out of the citadel. Some of the warriors murmured encouraging words to the team as they walked past.

As the kids rode on the bison out of the city, Sanosuke sadly looked back at his home as it shrank in the distance. As they flew over the waters, they saw a massive amount of ships beneath them, all heading to the North Pole. Sanosuke shut his eyes tightly so he wouldn't see what he might have put his friends and family through. Kya put a comforting hand on Sanosuke's shoulder.

"Don't worry;" said Kya gently, "The city won't be destroyed if the Chikara Army finds out you're not there. We hardly had any damages and had no casualties when they came to our tribe."

Sanosuke's eyes shot open and he stood up. He raised his arms; as his arms raised, so did a large amount of water.

"What are you doing?"

The Avatar ignored Kya and waterbended a large wave into some of the ships, knocking them over. He raised his arms again and a ship rose up slightly in the water as ice suddenly shot up from under it. Before he could do anything else, Haruki pulled him down.

"Are you insane?" he hissed, so he wouldn't catch the Army's attention, "You almost blew our cover!"

"I don't care!" Sanosuke snarled back, "You saw those ships!"

"Uh guys?" Toshiro pointed at the water but the others ignored him.

"I keep telling you, they won't do any big damages to your city if you're not there!" said Kya

"Guys." They continued to ignore Toshiro

"That's not a risk I'm willing to take." answered Sanosuke

"Guys!"

"WHAT?" yelled out the others only to be answered with a giant fireball that barely missed the bison.

"Consider our cover officially blown!"

Another fireball was getting set up on a trebuchet below and it was pointed at the kids. Haruki grabbed Appa's reigns again and had Appa go higher to avoid the attacks.

"You see what you did?" yelled out Rikiya as soon as they were high enough to get out of range, "You almost got us killed!"

"STOP IT!"

Everybody, except Sanosuke, who continued to glare down at the water, looked at Xiu with surprise, for she was always so quiet.

"We didn't die." She said to the team in a calm manner. "We're safe now. We have a long way to go before we get back to the Earth Kingdom so I suggest we just get some rest."

The kids looked at one another and silently agreed with the youngest girl in the group. Everyone except Haruki laid back in the saddle and fell asleep one by one, Sanosuke being the last. He stared at the night sky for a while before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

Elvira glared at the bison above them as it dodged her men's attacks. She knew the bison belonged to the last Avatar and knew what it meant; the new Avatar has been taken away from the North Pole. She threw down a fireball in anger and turned to her second-in-command, Cari.

"Send a messenger hawk to our surviving men." She ordered. "Tell them there's been a change of plans and to pass this on to the others in camp. We're going after that bison."

The buff man bowed to her and walked off while the woman glared at the retreating bison until it disappeared.


	19. Chapter 18: Old Enemies

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Azula sat in the corner of her room in the asylum. She was shooting spider flies out of the air with her firebending. She rocked back and forth as she did so, muttering to herself.

The sound of scuffling was heard outside her door and she stopped rocking and looked up. Under the cracks of the door, she could see what looked like fire lighting up at the other side every other second, like as if someone was shooting fireballs. Azula could distinctly hear yelling, screaming, also. Soon, all was dead silent.

The insane princess jumped to her feet when she saw the knob of her door starting to turn. She stood in a stance, ready to fight. The door opened and Azula shot a large fireball at the intruder before she saw who it was but the intruder dodged the fireball.

"Please," pleaded the intruder, "I don't wish to harm you."

"Lies!" screamed Azula. She shot another fireball at the boy and he jumped out of the way.

The intruder got to his knees and bowed low to Azula.

"It is an honor to be in your presence, Fire Lord Azula." said the boy.

Azula pointed a fist at the man, still suspicious.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name isn't important." answered the boy, still bowing. "I am just a soldier of the Chikara Army. My leader wishes to speak with you. It would be a great honor for you to grace our army with your presence."

"Yes, it would be an honor, wouldn't it? But why should I come with you?"

"What would you say if my leader offered you Fire Lord Zuko's death and you in your rightful place as Fire Lord and your father as the Phoenix King?"

Azula got out of her stance and smiled cruelly at the boy.

"I'm listening."

* * *

sorry that this chapter was so short.

Book 1 is officially over. I'll put up Book 2 later


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